0000000000820218
AUTHOR
Mike Sahl
Helix–Coil Transition in Cylindrical Brush Polymers with Poly-l-lysine Side Chains
Cylindrical brush polymers with poly-l-lysine side chains were prepared by grafting lysine NCA from a macroinitiator via living ring-opening polymerization. The main chain degree of polymerization of the methacrylate main chain was Pw = 870, the side chains consisted of 25 and 55 lysine repeat units, respectively. Upon deprotection, the cylindrical brush polymers in 0.005 M NaBr exhibited an almost rodlike conformation with a Kuhn statistical segment length of several hundred nanometers. Cryo-TEM as well as AFM in aqueous solution clearly demonstrated pronounced undulations along the main chain at low ionic strength which could not be detected at higher salt concentrations. With increasing …
Polymer Complexes in Biological Applications
This chapter summarizes the influence of polyelectrolyte topology on biological functions and biomedical applications such as cell uptake, drug delivery, and gene transfection. Polyelectrolytes utilized are spherical structures derived from dendrimers and albumin or cylindrical brushes, all of which are decorated with various polypeptide chains.