聚氨基酸材料的研究进展

Research Progress of Synthetic Polypeptides Materials

聚氨基酸是一类天然蛋白质模拟物,可以通过氨基酸-N-羧基环内酸酐开环聚合法制备。聚氨基酸凭借氨基酸结构多样性、独特的自组装结构和构象转变、高生物活性和良好的生物相容性,被广泛应用于生物材料领域。以自动加速、协同共价聚合为代表的开环聚合新方法为聚氨基酸材料的高效制备提供了保障。以α-螺旋、β-折叠聚氨基酸为基本结构单元的聚合物能自组装形成结构规整的纳米材料,为结构与功能仿生及生物应用奠定了基础。聚氨基酸能在酸碱度、光、热及氧化还原等条件下发生构象转变,材料二级结构的变化伴随着物理(如亲疏水性)、化学(如电荷翻转)和生物活性(如细胞毒性)等的改变,为材料适应生物微环境变化和靶向递送等提供了新思路。聚氨基酸材料在抗菌、防污、抗肿瘤、基因递送、组织工程和免疫调节等生物应用领域展示了良好的应用前景。本文重点综述了当前聚氨基酸材料在前沿制备方法、组装结构、构象转变和生物应用四个方面的研究进展,并对其未来发展需要解决的问题进行了展望,以期为聚氨基酸材料的深入研究提供参考。

Synthetic polypeptides from the ring-opening polymerization(ROP)of amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides(NCAs)are a type of natural protein mimics.The unique features of these synthetic polypeptides,including the chemical diversity of amino acids,the unique self-assembly structures and conformation transition,and the desired biological activity and good biocompatibility,enable their broad biological applications.The new ROP method represented by auto-accelerated cooperative covalent polymerization provides a new direction for the efficient preparation of polypeptide materials.Additionally,polypeptides withα-helical orβ-sheet conformations can be used as building blocks for self-assembly,forming unique chiral and nanomaterials,which benefit the research on structural and functional biomimetics and biomedical applications.The conformational transitions of polypeptide materials,triggered by pH,light,heat,redox,etc,are always accompanied by the changes in their physical pro-perties(such as hydrophobicity),chemical structures(such as charge reversion),and biological activity(such as cytotoxicity),offering a new strategy for materials to adapt to the changes of biological microenvironment and targeted delivery.As a result,polypeptide materials have shown great potentials in biological applications such as antibacterial,antifouling,antitumor,gene delivery,tissue engineering,and immune regulation.This review offers a retrospection of the research process of synthetic polypeptides materials,which covered advanced preparation methods,assembly structure,conformation transition,and biological applications.In order to provide reference for the further research of synthetic polypeptides,we also raised some important questions for this field.