Consequences of isolated critical monomer sequence errors for the hydrolysis behaviors of sequenced degradable polyesters

Abstract

Despite the known sensitivity to sequence mutations of biological polymers, little is known about the effects of errors in sequenced synthetic copolymers. The degradation behaviors of copolyesters, for example, are known to depend on monomer-by-monomer order, yet the contribution of isolated monomer substitutions on hydrolysis behaviors has not been studied. We have developed a synthetic method in which precise quantities of a critical sequence error are doped into a sequenced polyester and studied how hydrolysis behaviors are affected by this distinct and potent sequence-error. The degradation rate proved tolerant to substitutions up to 1% of the monomers but accelerated significantly when the error population was larger.