Sequence-defined polymer-peptide hybrids

• Applicant: Dr. Matthias Hartlieb
• Subject Area: Polymer Materials
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 552507386

Synthetic chemistry offers a plethora of strategies to conjugate polymers and peptides. This is usually used to connect polymers to the functional groups of peptide sequences or vice versa. However, the free and sequence defined combination of peptides and polymers along the linear chain of a macromolecule has, to the best of our knowledge, not yet been achieved. Within this project, a synthetic strategy leading to polymer-peptide hybrids will be developed. Such hybrids are envisioned to contain polymers, as well as amino acids or peptide sequences within a linear chain, and without any restrictions regarding the sequence of elements. This strategy will also be developed to create multiblock copolymers comprising block sequences that are usually hard or not to access via polymerization by using sequential monomer addition. This will be accomplished iterative synthetic strategies based on standard peptide synthesis. Polymers will be used as "long" amino acids installing them along the peptide chain at selected positions along the predefined sequence. Obstacles that will be tackled within this work are the integration of sterically demanding macromolecules in iterative synthetic protocols, as well as the development of chemical methods to introduce them in a standard peptide synthesis protocol. Light mediated radical polymerization will play an important role in the synthesis pf polymeric building blocks and soluble support structures will be developed to establish iterative synthesis protocols. The successful development of this methodology will open up a multitude of new opportunities to create functional materials. This will be exemplified by the production of antimicrobial polymers that will possess unique structural features.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants