Issue 40, 2011

Self-assembly of polypeptide-based copolymers into diverse aggregates

Abstract

Recently, increasing attention has been given to the self-assembly behavior of polypeptide-based copolymers. Polypeptides can serve as either shell-forming or core-forming blocks in the formation of various aggregates. The solubility and rigidity of polypeptide blocks have been found to have a profound effect on the self-assembly behavior of polypeptide-based copolymers. Polypeptide graft copolymers combine the advantages of a grafting strategy and the characteristics of polypeptide chains and their self-assembly behavior can be easily adjusted by choosing different polymer chains and copolymer architectures. Fabricating hierarchical structures is one of the attractive topics of self-assembly research of polypeptide copolymers. These hierarchical structures are promising for use in preparing functional materials and, thus, attract increasing attention. Computer simulations have emerged as powerful tools to investigate the self-assembly behavior of polymers, such as polypeptides. These simulations not only support the experimental results, but also provide information that cannot be directly obtained from experiments. In this feature article, recent advances in both experimental and simulation studies for the self-assembly behavior of polypeptide-based copolymers are reviewed.

Graphical abstract: Self-assembly of polypeptide-based copolymers into diverse aggregates

Article information

Article type
Feature Article
Submitted
06 May 2011
Accepted
21 Jun 2011
First published
25 Jul 2011

Chem. Commun., 2011,47, 11189-11203

Self-assembly of polypeptide-based copolymers into diverse aggregates

C. Cai, L. Wang and J. Lin, Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 11189 DOI: 10.1039/C1CC12683K

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