Polycondensation of α‐amino acid esters in the presence of yttrium triflate as a Lewis acid

To develop polycondensation methods for poly(α‐amino acid)s, we describe a first examination to use yttrium triflate as a Lewis acid for polycondensation of α‐amino acid esters. In the absence of Lewis acid, no polycondensation of 2‐methoxyphenyl glycinate ( 1b ) at room temperature proceeded. While the polycondensation of 1b was carried out with 5 mol % yttrium triflate, a condensation product of glycine was obtained in 16% yield. Although polycondensation of 4‐nitrophenyl L ‐leucinate ( 1c ) and 4‐nitrophenyl L ‐valinate ( 1d ) were also promoted with 5 mol % yttrium triflate, the condensation products of both α‐amino acid esters were obtained in only a few percent yield. When 1d was polymerized in the presence of 100 mol % yttrium triflate, high molecular weight poly(L ‐valine) was obtained in 91% yield. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 4731–4735, 2006     

Polycondensation of activated L‐valine and L‐leucine esters with various lewis acids

To develop a novel polycondensation method for the preparation of poly (amino acid)s, we screened a transition metal or a rare‐earth triflate as a Lewis acid for the polycondensation of activated amino acid esters in N,N‐dimethylformamide solutions at room temperature. The polymerizations of 4‐nitrophenyl L ‐leucinate ( 1a ) and 4‐nitrophenyl L ‐valinate ( 1b ) scarcely proceeded without any Lewis acid at room temperature. In the presence of 5 mol % metal triflates, especially scandium(III) trifluoromethanesulfonate, the polymerizations of both monomers were promoted effectively. The products, which were collected by the reaction mixture being poured into water, were recognized as poly(L ‐valine)s by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography analysis, and ¹H NMR spectroscopy. These results showed that a metal triflate as a Lewis acid could coordinate to a carbonyl oxygen of activated L ‐valinate and L ‐leucinate even in a highly polar solvent, such as N,N‐dimethylformamide; therefore, the polymerizations of activated L ‐valinate and L ‐leucinate were promoted. Because steric hindrance derived from the isobutyl group in 1b was less than that of the isopropyl unit in 1a , the effect of the metals was not as sensitive for the polymerization of 1b . © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 543–547, 2007     

Chemical synthesis of poly‐γ‐glutamic acid by polycondensation of γ‐glutamic acid dimer: Synthesis and reaction of poly‐γ‐glutamic acid methyl ester

α‐Methyl glutamic acid (L ‐L )‐, (L ‐D )‐, (D ‐L )‐, and (D ‐D )‐γ‐dimers were synthesized from L ‐ and D ‐glutamic acids, and the obtained dimers were subjected to polycondensation with 1‐(3‐dimethylaminopropyl)‐3‐ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride and 1‐hydroxybenzotriazole hydrate as condensation reagents. Poly‐γ‐glutamic acid (γ‐PGA) methyl ester with the number‐average molecular weights of 5000∼20,000 were obtained by polycondensation in N,N‐dimethylformamide in 44∼91% yields. The polycondensation of (L ‐L )‐ and (D ‐D )‐dimers afforded the polymers with much larger |[α]_D | compared with the corresponding dimers. The polymer could be transformed into γ‐PGA by alkaline hydrolysis or transesterification into α‐benzyl ester followed by hydrogenation. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 39: 732–741, 2001     

Polymerization of α‐amino acid N‐carboxyanhydrides catalyzed by rare earth tris(borohydride) complexes: Mechanism and hydroxy‐endcapped polypeptides

In this work, rare earth tris(borohydride) complexes, Ln(BH₄)₃(THF)₃ (Ln = Sc, Y, La, and Dy), have been used to catalyze the ring‐opening polymerization of γ‐benzyl‐L ‐glutamate N‐carboxyanhydride (BLG NCA). All the catalysts show high activities and the resulting poly(γ‐benzyl‐L ‐glutamate)s (PBLGs) are recovered with high yields (≥90%). The molecular weights (MWs) of PBLG can be controlled by the molar ratios of monomer to catalyst, and the MW distributions (MWDs) are relatively narrow (as low as 1.16) depending on the rare earth metals and reaction temperatures. Block copolypeptides can be easily synthesized by the sequential addition of two monomers. The obtained P(γ‐benzyl‐L ‐glutamate‐b‐ε‐carbobenzoxy‐L ‐lysine) [P(BLG‐b‐BLL)] and P(γ‐benzyl‐L ‐glutamate‐b‐alanine) [P(BLG‐b‐ALA)] have been well characterized by NMR, gel permeation chromatography, and differential scanning calorimetry measurements. A random copolymer P(BLG‐co‐BLL) with a narrow MWD of 1.07 has also been synthesized. The polymerization mechanisms have been investigated in detail. The results show that both nucleophilic attack at the 5‐CO of NCA and deprotonation of 3‐NH of NCA in the initiation process take place simultaneously, resulting in two active centers, that is, an yttrium ALA carbamate derivative [H₂BOCH₂(CH)NHC(O)OLn? ] and a N‐yttriumlated ALA NCA. Propagation then proceeds on these centers via both normal monomer insertion and polycondensation. After termination, two kinds of telechelic polypeptide chains, that is, α‐hydroxyl‐ω‐aminotelechelic chains and α‐carboxylic‐ω‐aminotelechelic ones, are formed as characterized by MALDI‐TOF MS, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, ¹H–¹H COSY, and ¹H–¹³C HMQC measurements. By decreasing the reaction temperature, the normal monomer insertion pathway can be exclusively selected, forming an unprecedented α‐hydroxyl‐ω‐aminotelechelic polypeptide. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Amino acid end-group in commercial heparin. III. Determination of the number of amino groups of amino acid and hexosamine residues per heparin molecule

The reactions of heparin with 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS) were studied spectrometrically. Seven different commercial heparins were used in this study. The amino groups react with TNBS to form equimolar amounts of trinitrophenylated (TNP) amino groups and bisulfite ions. The TNP-amino groups further react with bisulfite ions to form the monosubstituted anionic sigma complex. The absorption spectrum with two maxima at approximately 350 nm and approximately 420 nm, characteristic of either the TNP-amino groups or the complex, was analyzed for the reaction of TNBS with heparin. It was shown that the reactivities of TNBS with amino groups from α-amino acid and hexosamine residues are greatly different. By combining the results of the reaction kinetics and the reaction of heparin with Sanger's reagent, the number of the α-amino groups and the free amino groups in hexosamine residues were determined. These data have been performed with a range of heparins from different commercial sources, of different activities and physical characteristics. No correlation was found between the free amino contents of these heparins and biological potency. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Amino acid‐based bioanalogous polymers. Synthesis,and study of regular poly(ester amide)s based on bis(α‐amino acid) α,ω‐alkylene diesters,and aliphatic dicarboxylic acids

The purpose of this research was to synthesize new regular poly(ester amide)s (PEAs) consisting of nontoxic building blocks like hydrophobic α‐amino acids, α,ω‐diols, and aliphatic dicarboxylic acids, and to examine the effects of the structure of these building block components on some physico‐chemical and biochemical properties of the polymers. PEAs were prepared by solution polycondensation of di‐p‐toluenesulfonic acid salts of bis‐(α‐amino acid) α,ω‐alkylene diesters and di‐p‐nitrophenyl esters of diacids. Optimal conditions of this reaction have been studied. High molecular weight PEAs (M_w = 24,000–167,000) with narrow polydispersity (M_w/M_n = 1.20–1.81) were prepared under the optimal reaction conditions and exhibited excellent film‐forming properties. PEAs obtained are mostly amorphous materials with T_g from 11 to 59°C. α‐Chymotrypsin catalyzed in vitro hydrolysis of these new PEA substrates was studied to assess the effect of the building blocks of these new polymers on their biodegradation properties. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 37: 391–407, 1999     

Ring opening polymerization of α‐amino acid N‐carboxyanhydrides catalyzed by rare earth catalysts: Polymerization characteristics and mechanism

Five rare earth complexes are first introduced to catalyze ring opening polymerizations (ROPs) of γ‐benzyl‐L ‐glutamate N‐carboxyanhydride (BLG NCA) and L ‐alanine NCA (ALA NCA) including rare earth isopropoxide (RE(OiPr)₃), rare earth tris(2,6‐di‐tert‐butyl‐4‐methylphenolate) (RE(OAr)₃), rare earth tris(borohydride) (RE(BH₄)₃(THF)₃), rare earth tris[bis(trimethylsilyl)amide] (RE(NTMS)₃), and rare earth trifluoromethanesulfonate. The first four catalysts exhibit high activities in ROPs producing polypeptides with quantitative yields (>90%) and moderate molecular weight (MW) distributions ranging from 1.2 to 1.6. In RE(BH₄)₃(THF)₃ and RE(NTMS)₃ catalytic systems, MWs of the produced polypeptides can be controlled by feeding ratios of monomer to catalyst, which is in contrast to the systems of RE(OiPr)₃ and RE(OAr)₃ with little controllability over the MWs. End groups of the polypeptides are analyzed by MALDI‐TOF MS and polymerization mechanisms are proposed accordingly. With ligands of significant steric hindrance in RE(OiPr)₃ and RE(OAr)₃, deprotonation of 3‐NH of NCA is the only initiation mode producing a N‐rare earth metallated NCA ( i ) responsible for further chain growth, resulting in α‐carboxylic‐ω‐aminotelechelic polypeptides after termination. In the case of RE(BH₄)₃(THF)₃ with small ligands, another initiation mode at 5‐CO position of NCA takes place simultaneously, resulting in α‐hydroxyl‐ω‐aminotelechelic polypeptides. In RE(NTMS)₃ system, the protonated ligand hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) initiates the polymerization and produces α‐amide‐ω‐aminotelechelic polypeptides. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Enthalpic Interaction for α-Amino Acid with Alkali Metal Halides in Water

The studies of the enthalpic interaction parameters, hxy, hxyy and hxxy, of alkali metal halides with glycine, α-alanine and α-aminobutyric acid were published. Synthetic considering of the results of the studies, some interesting behaviors of the interaction between alkali metal halides and the α-amino acids have been found. The values of hxy will increase with the increase of the number of carbon atoms in alkyl side chain of amino acid molecules and decrease with the increase of the radius of the ions. The increasing of the salt‘s effect on the hydrophobic hydration structure as the radii of anion is more obvious than as that of cation. The value of hxxy will regularly decrease with the increase of the number of carbon atoms in the alkyl chain of amino acids and linear increase with the increase of the radius. But the relation of hxxyWith the radius of cations is not evident. The value of hxyywill increase with the increase of the radii of the ions. As the increase of the number of carbon atoms of amino acids, hxyy is decreas for the ions which have lager size and there is a maximum value at α-alanine for the ions which have small size. The behaviors of the interaction mentioned above were further discussed in view of electrostatic and structural interactions.     

Synthesis and ring‐opening (co)polymerization of L‐lysine N‐carboxyanhydrides containing labile side‐chain protective groups

This contribution describes the synthesis and ring‐opening (co)polymerization of several L ‐lysine N‐carboxyanhydrides (NCAs) that contain labile protective groups at the ?‐NH₂ position. Four of the following L ‐lysine NCAs were investigated: N^?‐trifluoroacetyl‐L ‐lysine N‐carboxyanhydride, N^?‐(tert‐butoxycarbonyl)‐L ‐lysine N‐carboxyanhydride, N^?‐(9‐fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl)‐L ‐lysine N‐carboxyanhydride, and N^?‐(6‐nitroveratryloxycarbonyl)‐L ‐lysine N‐carboxyanhydride. In contrast to the harsh conditions that are required for acidolysis of benzyl carbamate moieties, which are usually used to protect the ?‐NH₂ position of L ‐lysine during NCA polymerization, the protective groups of the L ‐lysine NCAs presented here can be removed under mildly acidic or basic conditions or by photolysis. As a consequence, these monomers may allow access to novel peptide hybrid materials that cannot be prepared from ?‐benzyloxycarbonyl‐L ‐lysine N‐carboxyanhydride (Z‐Lys NCA) because of side reactions that accompany the removal of the Z groups. By copolymerization of these L ‐lysine NCAs with labile protective groups, either with each other or with γ‐benzyl‐L ‐glutamate N‐carboxyanhydride or Z‐Lys NCA, orthogonally side‐chain‐protected copolypeptides with number‐average degrees of polymerization ≤20 were obtained. Such copolypeptides, which contain different side‐chain protective groups that can be removed independently, are interesting for the synthesis of complex polypeptide architectures or can be used as scaffolds for the preparation of synthetic antigens or protein mimetics. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 1167–1187, 2003     

Synthesis,structural characterization and cytotoxic activity of diorganotin(IV) complexes of N‐(5‐halosalicylidene)‐α‐amino acid

Fourteen new diorganotin(IV) complexes of N‐(5‐halosalicylidene)‐α‐amino acid, R′₂Sn(5‐X‐2‐OC₆H₃CH?NCHRCOO) (where X = Cl, Br; R = H, Me, i‐Pr; R′ = n‐Bu, Ph, Cy), were synthesized by the reactions of diorganotin halides with potassium salt of N‐(5‐halosalicylidene)‐α‐amino acid and characterized by elemental analysis, IR and NMR (¹H, ¹³C and ¹¹⁹Sn) spectra. The crystal structures of Bu₂Sn(5‐Cl‐2‐OC₆H₃CH?NCH(i‐Pr)COO) and Ph₂Sn(5‐Br‐2‐OC₆H₃CH?NCH(i‐Pr)COO) were determined by X‐ray single‐crystal diffraction and showed that the tin atoms are in a distorted trigonal bipyramidal geometry and form five‐ and six‐membered chelate rings with the tridentate ligand. Bioassay results of a few compounds indicated that the compounds have strong cytotoxic activity against three human tumour cell lines, i.e. HeLa, CoLo205 and MCF‐7, and the activity decreased in the order Cy>n‐Bu>Ph for the R′ group bound to tin. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

氨基甲酸酯型脱氧胆酸分子钳对氨基酸甲酯的手性识别 研究

以脱氧胆酸为spacer,通过三光气桥连各种芳胺,合成了新的氨基甲酸酯型分子钳受体1～4,这些化合物的结构经IR,^1HNMR和元素分析所证实。利用差光谱滴定法考察了其与D/L氨基酸甲酯的对映选择性识别性能。结果表明,分子钳1～4对所考察的氨基酸甲酯均具有识别能力,其对D-氨基酸甲酯的识别优于对L-氨基酸甲酯的识别。从主客体间的大小形状匹配及几何互补关系等方面对这些受体的识别能力及对映选择性进行了讨论。     

Optimization of an α‐(Amino acid)‐N‐carboxyanhydride polymerization using the high vacuum technique: Examining the effects of monomer concentration,polymerization kinetics,polymer molecular weight,and monomer purity

l ‐Ornithine‐based poly(peptides) have been widely utilized in the field of drug delivery, however few studies have been conducted examining the details of polymerization. In this article, the effects of monomer concentration, polymerization kinetics, polymer molecular weight and monomer purity were investigated using l ‐carboxybenzyl (Cbz)‐ornithine as a model monomer. The mechanism of polymerization herein follows the normal amine mechanism to produce poly(peptides) having controlled molecular weights, known chain ends and a narrow polydispersity index (PDI). A preferred monomer concentration range was determined, which required minimal polymerization times and allowed for predictable and reproducible molecular weights with narrow PDIs. The impact of monomer purity on the polymerization was established and monomer purification conditions are reported, which produce high‐purity monomer after a single recrystallization. Additionally, the optimized polymerization conditions and monomer purification protocol were combined with a sequential monomer addition technique to produce high molecular weight poly(ornithine) with a narrow PDI and known chain ends. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014 , 52, 1385–1391     

Four oxoindole‐linked α‐alkoxy‐β‐amino acid derivatives

Four structures of oxoindolyl α‐hydroxy‐β‐amino acid derivatives, namely, methyl 2‐{3‐[(tert‐butoxycarbonyl)amino]‐1‐methyl‐2‐oxoindolin‐3‐yl}‐2‐methoxy‐2‐phenylacetate, C₂₄H₂₈N₂O₆, (I), methyl 2‐{3‐[(tert‐butoxycarbonyl)amino]‐1‐methyl‐2‐oxoindolin‐3‐yl}‐2‐ethoxy‐2‐phenylacetate, C₂₅H₃₀N₂O₆, (II), methyl 2‐{3‐[(tert‐butoxycarbonyl)amino]‐1‐methyl‐2‐oxoindolin‐3‐yl}‐2‐[(4‐methoxybenzyl)oxy]‐2‐phenylacetate, C₃₁H₃₄N₂O₇, (III), and methyl 2‐[(anthracen‐9‐yl)methoxy]‐2‐{3‐[(tert‐butoxycarbonyl)amino]‐1‐methyl‐2‐oxoindolin‐3‐yl}‐2‐phenylacetate, C₃₈H₃₆N₂O₆, (IV), have been determined. The diastereoselectivity of the chemical reaction involving α‐diazoesters and isatin imines in the presence of benzyl alcohol is confirmed through the relative configuration of the two stereogenic centres. In esters (I) and (III), the amide group adopts an anti conformation, whereas the conformation is syn in esters (II) and (IV). Nevertheless, the amide group forms intramolecular N—H...O hydrogen bonds with the ester and ether O atoms in all four structures. The ether‐linked substituents are in the extended conformation in all four structures. Ester (II) is dominated by intermolecular N—H...O hydrogen‐bond interactions. In contrast, the remaining three structures are sustained by C—H...O hydrogen‐bond interactions.     

Multicyclic polyethers with pendant keto groups by polycondensation of silylated 1,1,1‐tris(4‐hydroxyphenyl)ethane

1,1,1‐Tris(4‐trimethylsiloxyphenyl)ethane, (silylated THPE), was polycondensed with 2,4‐difluoroacetophenone and 2,4‐difluorobenzophenone. All polycondensations were performed in N‐methylpyrrolidone with K₂CO₃ as promotor. The feed ratio THPE/difluoroaromat was varied from 1.0:1.3 to 1.0:1.5. Instead of hyperbranched polymers or gels, soluble multicyclic oligo‐ and polyethers were identified as main reaction products by MALDI‐TOF mass spectrometry in all experiments. At feed ratios around 1.0:1.5 multicycles free of functional group were the main products. However, when isomeric a₂‐monomers such as 2,6‐difluoroacetophenone, 2,6‐difluorobenzophenone (or 2,6‐difluorodiphenylsulfone) were used, gelation occurred at feed ratios as low as 1.0:1.1. An explanation of the different cyclization tendencies on the basis of different conformations is discussed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 6233–6246, 2005     

Phosphoryl group differentiating α‐amino acids from β‐ and γ‐amino acids in prebiotic peptide formation

In recent years β‐amino acids have increased their importance enormously in defining secondary structures of β‐peptides. Interest in β‐amino acids raises the question: Why and how did nature choose α‐amino acids for the central role in life? In this article we present experimental results of MS and ³¹P NMR methods on the chemical behavior of N‐phosphorylated α‐alanine, β‐alanine, and γ‐amino butyric acid in different solvents. N‐Phosphoryl α‐alanine can self‐assemble to N‐phosphopeptides either in water or in organic solvents, while no assembly was observed for β‐ or γ‐amino acids. An intramolecular carboxylic–phosphoric mixed anhydride (IMCPA) is the key structure responsible for their chemical behaviors. Relative energies and solvent effects of three isomers of IMCPA derived from α‐alanine (2a–c), with five‐membered ring, and five isomers of IMCPA derived from β‐alanine (4a–e), with six‐membered ring, were calculated with density functional theory at the B3LYP/6‐31G** level. The lower relative energy (3.2 kcal/mol in water) of 2b and lower energy barrier for its formation (16.7 kcal/mol in water) are responsible for the peptide formation from N‐phosphoryl α‐alanine. Both experimental and theoretical studies indicate that the structural difference among α‐, β‐, and γ‐amino acids can be recognized by formation of IMCPA after N‐phosphorylation. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem 94: 232–241, 2003     

Controlled polymerization of activated glycine esters by copper(II) chelate

We describe a novel method of polymerization, via the insertion of activated glycine esters into N‐salicylideneglycinato‐aquo‐copper(II) chelate ( 1 ), that uses the reactivity of the metal chelate. In the absence of 1 , a high molecular weight polyglycine was formed as a white precipitate after triethylamine was added to an N,N‐dimethylformamide solution of 4‐nitrophenyl glycinate ( 3a ). In the presence of 5 mol % 1 , however, the polymerization proceeded homogeneously. After the reaction mixture was poured into tetrahydrofuran, a condensation product of glycine was obtained. According to gel permeation chromatography analysis, the product consisted of high and low molecular weight fractions. The former and latter were obtained by self‐polycondensation and polycondensation via the insertion of 3a into 1 , respectively. So that the self‐polycondensation of activated glycinates would be depressed, 2‐chlorophenyl ( 3b ), 3‐chlorophenyl ( 3c ), 4‐chlorophenyl, and phenyl glycinates were used as less activated glycine esters. For the polymerization of 3b and 3c , the polymerization via the insertion of activated glycinates into 1 was promoted. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 1504–1510, 2003     

The effect of amino acid backbone length on molecular packing: crystalline tartrates of glycine, β‐alanine, γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) and dl‐α‐aminobutyric acid (AABA)

We report a novel 1:1 cocrystal of β‐alanine with dl ‐tartaric acid, C₃H₇NO₂·C₄H₆O₆, (II), and three new molecular salts of dl ‐tartaric acid with β‐alanine {3‐azaniumylpropanoic acid–3‐azaniumylpropanoate dl ‐tartaric acid–dl ‐tartrate, [H(C₃H₇NO₂)₂]⁺·[H(C₄H₅O₆)₂]⁻, (III)}, γ‐aminobutyric acid [3‐carboxypropanaminium dl ‐tartrate, C₄H₁₀NO₂⁺·C₄H₅O₆⁻, (IV)] and dl ‐α‐aminobutyric acid {dl ‐2‐azaniumylbutanoic acid–dl ‐2‐azaniumylbutanoate dl ‐tartaric acid–dl ‐tartrate, [H(C₄H₉NO₂)₂]⁺·[H(C₄H₅O₆)₂]⁻, (V)}. The crystal structures of binary crystals of dl ‐tartaric acid with glycine, (I), β‐alanine, (II) and (III), GABA, (IV), and dl ‐AABA, (V), have similar molecular packing and crystallographic motifs. The shortest amino acid (i.e. glycine) forms a cocrystal, (I), with dl ‐tartaric acid, whereas the larger amino acids form molecular salts, viz. (IV) and (V). β‐Alanine is the only amino acid capable of forming both a cocrystal [i.e. (II)] and a molecular salt [i.e. (III)] with dl ‐tartaric acid. The cocrystals of glycine and β‐alanine with dl ‐tartaric acid, i.e. (I) and (II), respectively, contain chains of amino acid zwitterions, similar to the structure of pure glycine. In the structures of the molecular salts of amino acids, the amino acid cations form isolated dimers [of β‐alanine in (III), GABA in (IV) and dl ‐AABA in (V)], which are linked by strong O—H…O hydrogen bonds. Moreover, the three crystal structures comprise different types of dimeric cations, i.e. (A…A)⁺ in (III) and (V), and A⁺…A⁺ in (IV). Molecular salts (IV) and (V) are the first examples of molecular salts of GABA and dl ‐AABA that contain dimers of amino acid cations. The geometry of each investigated amino acid (except dl ‐AABA) correlates with the melting point of its mixed crystal.     

Synthesis of polypeptides from activated urethane derivatives of α‐amino acids

A series of activated urethane‐type derivatives of α‐amino acids were synthesized and applied to polypeptide synthesis. The urethane used herein, N‐(4‐nitrophenoxycarbonyl)‐α‐amino acids 1 , were synthesized by N‐carbamoylation of γ‐benzyl‐L ‐glutamate, β‐benzyl‐L ‐aspartate, L ‐leucine, L ‐phenylalanine, and L ‐proline, with 4‐nitrophenyl chloroformate. When 1 was dissolved in N,N‐dimethylacetamide (DMAc) and heated at 60 °C, it was smoothly converted into the corresponding polypeptides with releasing 4‐nitrophenol and carbon dioxide. Spectroscopic analyses of the obtained polypeptides revealed that they were comparable with the authentic polypeptides synthesized by the ring‐opening polymerizations of amino acid N‐carboxyanhydrides (NCAs). Besides the successful polycondensations of a series of 1 , their polycondensations of 1a and other 1 were also successfully carried out to obtain the corresponding statistic copolypeptides. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 2525–2535, 2008     

Hydroxyl‐tolerated polymerization of N‐phenoxycarbonyl α‐amino acids: A simple way to polypeptides bearing hydroxyl groups

Differing from the moisture‐sensitive α‐amino acid N‐carboxyanhydrides (AA‐NCAs) monomers, N‐phenoxycarbonyl α‐amino acids (AA‐NPCs) can be prepared and stored in open air. In this contribution, we report that the controlled polymerizations of AA‐NPC monomers of O‐tert‐butyl‐dl ‐serine (BRS‐NPC), N^ε‐benzyloxycarbonyl‐l ‐lysine (ZLL‐NPC) and N^ε‐trifluoroacetyl‐l ‐lysine (FLL‐NPC) initiated by amines are surprisingly able to tolerate common nucleophilic impurities such as water and alcohols at a level of monomer concentration. The structures of polypeptides synthesized in the presence of water or alcohols agree well with the designed ones in the case of repeated chain extensions. Detailed mechanism study and density functional theory calculation reveal that the low concentration of AA‐NCA and the high activity of amines are the key factors to the controllability of AA‐NPC polymerizations. The water‐ and alcohol‐tolerant property in polymerizations of AA‐NPCs encourages the following studies on unprotected (phenolic) hydroxyl groups containing AA‐NPCs. The controllable polymerizations of N‐phenoxycarbonyl l ‐tyrosine (LT‐NPC) and N‐phenoxycarbonyl S‐(3‐hydroxypropyl)‐l ‐cysteine (HLC‐NPC) initiated by amines are confirmed and reported for the first time, which extends the library of AA‐NPCs and polypeptides as well. All the universality of library, the convenience of monomer preparation, and the controllability and water‐ and alcohol‐tolerant property of polymerization of AA‐NPCs significantly enhance the feasibility of polypeptide synthesis, making AA‐NPC approach a promising synthetic method of polypeptides. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019 , 57, 907–916