Issue 26, 2021

Tubular supramolecular alternating copolymers fabricated by cyclic peptide–polymer conjugates

Abstract

Supramolecular copolymers are an emerging class of materials, which bring together different properties and functionalities of multiple components via noncovalent interactions. While it is widely acknowledged that the repeating unit sequence plays an essential role on the performance of these materials, mastering and tuning the supramolecular copolymer sequence is still an open challenge. To date, only statistical supramolecular copolymers have been reported using cyclic peptide–polymer conjugates as building blocks. To enrich the diversity of tubular supramolecular copolymers, we report here a strategy of controlling their sequences by introducing an extra complementary noncovalent interaction. Hence, two conjugates bearing one electron donor and one electron acceptor, respectively, are designed. The two conjugates can individually assemble into tubular supramolecular homopolymers driven by the multiple hydrogen bonding interactions between cyclic peptides. However, the complementary charge transfer interaction between the electron donor and acceptor makes each conjugate more favorable for complexing with its counterpart, resulting in an alternating sequence of the supramolecular copolymer. Following the same principle, more functional supramolecular alternating copolymers are expected to be designed and constructed via other complementary noncovalent interactions (electrostatic interactions, metal coordination interactions, and host–guest interactions, etc.).

Graphical abstract: Tubular supramolecular alternating copolymers fabricated by cyclic peptide–polymer conjugates

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
29 Apr 2021
Accepted
29 May 2021
First published
03 Jun 2021
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2021,12, 9096-9103

Tubular supramolecular alternating copolymers fabricated by cyclic peptide–polymer conjugates

Q. Song, A. Kerr, J. Yang, S. C. L. Hall and S. Perrier, Chem. Sci., 2021, 12, 9096 DOI: 10.1039/D1SC02389F

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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