Streamlined Synthesis of PEG-Polypeptides Directly from Amino Acids

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

The application of synthetic polypeptides is greatly limited by the difficulty of the purification and polymerization of N -carboxyanhydrides (NCAs). Here, we report a streamlined, controlled synthesis of polypeptides directly from amino acids, avoiding the NCA purification, by adding small-molecular amine scavengers (AS) in situ to efficiently eliminate the remaining organic impurities in the emulsion polymerization system. Such a process enables controlled synthesis of PEG-containing, homo, block, and random polypeptides in a highly consistent manner under open-air condition, directly from amino acid derivatives in various formats and independent of NCA preparation methods.