Amphiphilic Nucleobase-Containing Polypeptide Copolymers—Synthesis and Self-Assembly

Journal article

M. Nguyen, K. Ferji, S. Lecommandoux, Colin Bonduelle
Polymers, 2020

Semantic Scholar DOI PubMedCentral PubMed

Cite

APA Click to copy
Nguyen, M., Ferji, K., Lecommandoux, S., & Bonduelle, C. (2020). Amphiphilic Nucleobase-Containing Polypeptide Copolymers—Synthesis and Self-Assembly. Polymers.

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Nguyen, M., K. Ferji, S. Lecommandoux, and Colin Bonduelle. “Amphiphilic Nucleobase-Containing Polypeptide Copolymers—Synthesis and Self-Assembly.” Polymers (2020).

MLA Click to copy
Nguyen, M., et al. “Amphiphilic Nucleobase-Containing Polypeptide Copolymers—Synthesis and Self-Assembly.” Polymers, 2020.

BibTeX Click to copy

@article{m2020a,
  title = {Amphiphilic Nucleobase-Containing Polypeptide Copolymers—Synthesis and Self-Assembly},
  year = {2020},
  journal = {Polymers},
  author = {Nguyen, M. and Ferji, K. and Lecommandoux, S. and Bonduelle, Colin}
}

Abstract

Nucleobase-containing polymers are an emerging class of building blocks for the self-assembly of nanoobjects with promising applications in nanomedicine and biology. Here we present a macromolecular engineering approach to design nucleobase-containing polypeptide polymers incorporating thymine that further self-assemble in nanomaterials. Diblock and triblock copolypeptide polymers were prepared using sequential ring-opening polymerization of γ-Benzyl-l-glutamate N-carboxyanhydride (BLG-NCA) and γ-Propargyl-l-glutamate N-carboxyanhydride (PLG-NCA), followed by an efficient copper(I)-catalyzed azide alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAc) functionalization with thymidine monophosphate. Resulting amphiphilic copolymers were able to spontaneously form nanoobjects in aqueous solutions avoiding a pre-solubilization step with an organic solvent. Upon self-assembly, light scattering measurements and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed the impact of the architecture (diblock versus triblock) on the morphology of the resulted nanoassemblies. Interestingly, the nucleobase-containing nanoobjects displayed free thymine units in the shell that were found available for further DNA-binding.