The secondary structure formation of polypeptides not only governs folding and solution self-assembly but also affects the nucleophilic ring-opening polymerization of α-amino acid-N-carboxyanhydrides (NCAs). Whereby helical structures are known to enhance polymerization rates, β-sheet-like assemblies reduce the propagation rate or may even terminate chain growth by precipitation or gelation. To overcome these unfavorable properties, racemic mixtures of NCAs can be applied. In this work, racemic S-(ethylsulfonyl)-dl-cysteine NCA is investigated for the synthesis of polypeptides, diblock and triblock copolypept(o)ides. In contrast to the polymerization of stereoregular S-(ethylsulfonyl)-l-cysteine NCA, the reaction of S-(ethylsulfonyl)-dl-cysteine NCA proceeds with a rate constant of up to kp = 1.70 × 10-3 L mol-1 s -1 and is slightly faster than the enatiopure polymerization. While the polymerization of S-(ethylsulfonyl)-l-cysteine NCA suffers from incomplete monomer conversion and degrees of polymerization (DPs) limited to 30-40, racemic mixtures yield polypeptides with DPs of up to 102 with high conversion rates and well-defined dispersities (1.2-1.3). The controlled living nature of the ring-opening polymerization of S-(ethylsulfonyl)-dl-cysteine NCA thus enables the synthesis of triblock copolymers by sequential monomer addition. This methodology allows for precise control over DPs of individual blocks and yields uniform triblock copolymers with symmetric molecular weight distributions at a reduced synthetic effort.
Keywords: NCA polymerization; polypept(o)ides; polypeptides; racemic amino acids; ring-opening polymerization.
© 2020 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.