Electrospinning and Post-Spun Chain Conformations of Synthetic, Hydrophobic Poly(α-amino acid)s

Kesavan Devarayan; Souta Nakagami; Shuichi Suzuki; Ichiro Yuki; Kousaku Ohkawa

doi:10.3390/polym12020327

Electrospinning and Post-Spun Chain Conformations of Synthetic, Hydrophobic Poly(α-amino acid)s

Polymers (Basel). 2020 Feb 4;12(2):327. doi: 10.3390/polym12020327.

Authors

Kesavan Devarayan¹, Souta Nakagami², Shuichi Suzuki³, Ichiro Yuki^{3

4}, Kousaku Ohkawa^{2

3

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Basic Sciences, College of Fisheries Engineering, Tamil Nadu Dr. J. Jayalalithaa Fisheries University, Vettar River View Campus, Nagapattinam 611 002, India.
² Division of Synthetic Polymers, Institute of High Polymer Research, Faculty of Textile Science and Technology, Shinshu University, Tokida 3-15-1, Ueda 386-8567, Japan.
³ Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, Irvine, 200S Manchester St., Suite 210, Orange, CA92868, USA.
⁴ Department of Neurosurgery, The Jikei Univeristy Hospital, 3 Chome-25-8 Nishishinbashi, Minato City, Tokyo 105-8461, Japan.
⁵ Division of Biological and Medical Fibers, Institute for Fiber Engineering, Interdisciplinary Cluster for Cutting Edge Research, Shinshu University, Tokida 3-15-1, Ueda 386-8567, Japan.

Abstract

Electrospinning and post-spun conformations of hydrophobic poly(α-amino acid)s are described in this study. The poly(α-amino acid)s, poly(Gly), poly(L-Ala), poly(L-Val), and poly(L-Leu) were synthesized via corresponding N-carboxy-a-amino acid anhydrides. The average molecular weight and degree of polymerization of these polymers were determined by N-terminus labeling using 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene and by viscometry in the case of poly(Gly). These poly(α-amino acid)s were electrospun from trifluoroacetic acid or trifluoroacetic acid/dichloromethane solutions. The FT-IR spectroscopy and wide-angle X-ray diffraction indicated that the electrospun poly(L-Ala) and poly(L-Leu) fibers predominantly adopts α-helical structure, whereas poly(L-Val) and poly(Gly) fibers exhibited mainly β-strand and random coil structures, respectively.

Keywords: conformational analysis; electrospinning; molecular weight; poly(α-amino acid)s; synthesis.

Abstract

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