Amino acid-derived stimuli-responsive polymers and their applications

Polymer Chemistry Pub Date: 2018-01-30 DOI: 10.1039/C7PY02014G

Abstract

Natural biopolymers such as proteins and nucleic acids in living organisms possess an inherent ability to respond to local environmental stimuli, which motivated researchers to make biomolecule-derived non-biological macromolecules with a biomimetic structure having stimuli-responsive properties. This review mainly focuses on stimuli-responsive polymers having natural amino acid units either in the main-chain or in the side-chain, their self-assembled nanostructures and hydrogel networks. Recent advances in the design and synthesis of amino acid-derived polymers that are responsive to various physical, chemical, or biochemical stimuli such as temperature, light, pH, redox-, metal ions, gas, glucose, enzyme, proteins, DNA or a combination of these are illustrated. Their potential for use as stimuli-responsive “smart” nanomaterials in biomedical and biotechnological applications such as in controlled drug delivery, gene delivery, non-fouling materials, etc. is also highlighted. The primary aim of this review article is to motivate researchers towards the design and synthesis of novel stimuli-responsive biohybrid materials for making next generation smart materials.

Graphical abstract: Amino acid-derived stimuli-responsive polymers and their applications
Recommended Literature