IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v9y2018i1d10.1038_s41467-018-07711-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Lithium hexamethyldisilazide initiated superfast ring opening polymerization of alpha-amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides

Author

Listed:
  • Yueming Wu

    (East China University of Science and Technology)

  • Danfeng Zhang

    (East China University of Science and Technology)

  • Pengcheng Ma

    (East China University of Science and Technology)

  • Ruiyi Zhou

    (East China University of Science and Technology)

  • Lei Hua

    (East China University of Science and Technology)

  • Runhui Liu

    (East China University of Science and Technology)

Abstract

Polypeptides have broad applications and can be prepared via ring-opening polymerization of α-amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides (NCAs). Conventional initiators, such as primary amines, give slow NCA polymerization, which requires multiple days to reach completion and can result in substantial side reactions, especially for very reactive NCAs. Moreover, current NCA polymerizations are very sensitive to moisture and must typically be conducted in a glove box. Here we show that lithium hexamethyldisilazide (LiHMDS) initiates an extremely rapid NCA polymerization process that is completed within minutes or hours and can be conducted in an open vessel. Polypeptides with variable chain length (DP = 20–1294) and narrow molecular weight distribution (Mw/Mn = 1.08–1.28) were readily prepared with this approach. Mechanistic studies support an anionic ring opening polymerization mechanism. This living NCA polymerization method allowed rapid synthesis of polypeptide libraries for high-throughput functional screening.

Suggested Citation

  • Yueming Wu & Danfeng Zhang & Pengcheng Ma & Ruiyi Zhou & Lei Hua & Runhui Liu, 2018. "Lithium hexamethyldisilazide initiated superfast ring opening polymerization of alpha-amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-07711-y
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-07711-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-07711-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-018-07711-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jiayang Xie & Min Zhou & Yuxin Qian & Zihao Cong & Sheng Chen & Wenjing Zhang & Weinan Jiang & Chengzhi Dai & Ning Shao & Zhemin Ji & Jingcheng Zou & Ximian Xiao & Longqiang Liu & Minzhang Chen & Jin , 2021. "Addressing MRSA infection and antibacterial resistance with peptoid polymers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Ying Liu & Zhongwu Ren & Nannan Zhang & Xiaoxin Yang & Qihua Wu & Zehong Cheng & Hang Xing & Yugang Bai, 2023. "A nanoscale MOF-based heterogeneous catalytic system for the polymerization of N-carboxyanhydrides enables direct routes toward both polypeptides and related hybrid materials," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-07711-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.