Abstract:
Triblock copolypeptides poly(
L-lysine-
Nε-2-2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxyacetyl)-
b-poly(
L-glutamate-γ-benzyl)-
b-poly(
L-lysine-
Nε-2-2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxyacetyl) (PLys-(EG)
2-
b-PBLG-
b-PLys-(EG)
2) and poly(
L-glutamate-γ-benzyl)-
b-poly(
L-lysine-
Nε-2-2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxyacetyl)-
b-poly(
L-glutamate-γ-benzyl) (PBLG-
b-PLys-(EG)
2-
b-PBLG) were synthesized via
N-carboxyanhydride (NCA) ring opening polymerization using
N,
N'-(disulfanediylbis(ethane-2, 1-diyl))bis(1, 1, 1-trimethylsilanamine) (
N-TMS) as the initiator. The hydrophilic block poly(
L-lysine-
Nε-2-2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxyacetyl) (PLys-(EG)
2) and hydrophobic block poly(
L-glutamate-
γ-benzyl) (PBLG) maintained stable
α-helix conformation in water and
N,
N-dimethylformamide (DMF) mixture. The
a-helices were in rigid rod-like constellation and inflexible in self-assembly. Therefore, the amphiphilic copolypeptides were expected to show distinct self-assembly behavior in selective solutions. Herein, DMF-water mixture was adopted as the media and copolypeptides were allowed self-assembly through traditional strategies.
1H-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (
1H-NMR) and Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) confirmed the formation of desired copolypeptides. The assemblies were observed with Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). Results demonstrated that the obtained polypeptides showed controllable molecular weights (
Mw) and narrow polydispersity index (PDI). PLys-(EG)
2-
b-PBLG-
b-PLys-(EG)
2 self-assembled into small micelles while containing long hydrophilic PLys-(EG)
2 blocks, otherwise only spherical and rod-like large compound micelles with different dimensions were observed. In contrast, PBLG-
b-PLys-(EG)
2-
b-PBLG self-assembled into larger micelles while containing long hydrophilic blocks, which showed unstableness while the hydrophobic blocks turned longer. The unusual all-rigid skeletons and the confined conformation of the amphiphilic triblock copolypeptides might be the reason of these results.