Polypeptoids by living ring-opening polymerization of N-substituted N-carboxyanhydrides from solid supports

Abstract

The nucleophilic living ring-opening polymerization of N-substituted glycine N-carboxyanhydrides using solid-phase synthesis resins is reported. By variation of experimental parameters, products with near Poisson distributions are obtained. As opposed to reversible deactivation radical polymerization, the living polymerization is demonstrated to be viable to high monomer conversion and through multiple monomer addition steps. Successful preparation of a multiblock copolypeptoid is proof for a highly living and robust character of the solid-phase peptoid polymerization.