Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
Biomacromolecules. 2013 May 13;14(5):1572-7. doi: 10.1021/bm400216r. Epub 2013 Apr 15.
Polypeptides are successfully incorporated into poly(l-lactide) (PLLA) chains in a ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of l-lactide by using them as initiators. The resulting ABA triblock copolymers possess molecular weights up to 11000 g·mol(-1) and polydispersities as low as 1.13, indicating the living character of the polymerization process. In a nonaqueous emulsion, peptide-initiated polymerization of l-lactide leads to well-defined nanoparticles, consisting of PLLA-block-peptide-block-PLLA copolymer. These nanoparticles are easily loaded by dye-encapsulation and transferred into aqueous media without aggregation (average diameter of 100 nm) or significant dye leakage. Finally, internalization of PLLA-block-peptide-block-PLLA nanoparticles by HeLa cells is demonstrated by a combination of coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) and fluorescence microscopy. This demonstrates the promise of their utilization as cargo delivery vehicles.
多肽可作为引发剂成功地掺入到聚（L-丙交酯）（PLLA）链中，从而在 L-丙交酯的开环聚合（ROP）中进行。所得的 ABA 三嵌段共聚物的分子量高达 11000 g·mol(-1)，多分散性低至 1.13，表明聚合过程具有活性。在非水乳液中，肽引发的 L-丙交酯聚合导致具有明确结构的纳米粒子，由 PLLA-嵌段-肽-嵌段-PLLA 共聚物组成。这些纳米粒子可以通过染料包封很容易地负载，并在不聚集（平均直径为 100nm）或明显染料泄漏的情况下转移到水介质中。最后，通过相干反斯托克斯拉曼光谱（CARS）和荧光显微镜的组合证明了 HeLa 细胞对 PLLA-嵌段-肽-嵌段-PLLA 纳米粒子的内化。这证明了它们作为货物输送载体的应用前景。
