The statistical nature of chemical polymerization processes ensures that the materials prepared by such methods will consist of mixtures of chains. In contrast, ribosomal catalysis of protein synthesis on messenger RNA templates affords homogeneous products in which chain length, sequence, and stereochemistry are subject to exquisite control. With the advent of recombinant DNA methods in the 1970s, it has become possible to exploit this control in a synthetic sense, Le., to create new, artificial polypeptides of predetermined structure. Given the diversity of functionality, sequence, conformation, and chain lengths that become accessible in this way, it appears certain that this approach will find important applications in polymer materials science.
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Creel et al. (1991) studied this question.