Development and study of synthetic polypeptides for biomaterial applications

Abstract

Creating new scaffolds for cells is critical to the development of new tissue engineering techniques. In this work, the synthesis of new polypeptide systems is discussed. These systems are intended for the formation of hydrogels which can then be used as cell substrates. Attempts at using the clickable synthetic polypeptide poly(ypropargyl L-glutamate) (PPLG) to form a self-assembly amphiphilic system is discussed, as is the formation of potentially amphiphilic block copolymers with PPLG. The synthesis of a hydrolytically stable synthetic polypeptide with click functionality is also investigated. Additionally, the creation of a polypeptide system with two functionalities available for orthogonal click chemistry is discussed.