Synthesis and radical polymerization of a novel acrylamide having an α-helical peptide structure in the side chain

Abstract

The synthesis and radical polymerization behavior of a novel acrylamide having a helical peptide moiety were studied. The peptide unit consists of L-leucine, L-alanine, and α-aminoisobutyric acid, which can stabilize helical structures efficiently. The aminolauryl group was introduced as a spacer between the polymerizable acryloyl group and the peptide group to decrease the steric hindrance of the acryloyl group. The polymerization proceeded homogeneously with 40-89% conversion. The structure of the obtained polymer was confirmed as the corresponding polyacrylamide by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.