Synthesis and characterization of chiral polyamides derived from glycine and (S)-5-amino-4-methoxypentanoic acid

Stereoregular, enantiomerically pure, chiral polyamides of the –AB– type, containing a natural (glycine) and a synthetic [(S)-5-amino-4-methoxypentanoic acid (AMP)] component have been prepared by the active ester polycondensation method. Thus, polyamide 7 was obtained by polycondensation of the conveniently activated H2NGly–AMPCO2R unit (6). In this reaction, 7 appeared accompanied by a considerable amount of cyclic (Gly–AMP)2 (8), which makes the isolation and purification of 7 difficult. The formation of cyclic byproducts could be avoided by preparing and polymerizing the oligoamide H2NGly–AMP–AMPCO2R (11), which has the terminal carboxyl group activated as the pentachlorophenyl ester. The resulting polyamide (12) was obtained in 85% yield and free of macrolactams, such as 8. The new polyamides 7 and 12 were characterized by elemental analysis and infrared and 1H- and 13C-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopies. Thermal studies revealed that 12 is crystalline and yields films with spherulitic texture by slow evaporation of formic acid solutions.