Self-Assembly and Stimuli-Responsiveness of Amino Acid Derived Polymers

Nandi, Mridula (2019) Self-Assembly and Stimuli-Responsiveness of Amino Acid Derived Polymers. PhD thesis, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata.

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Abstract

In this piece of work, we mainly focus on the synthesis and application of side-chain amino acid based “smart” functional polymeric materials. The intrinsic ability of natural biopolymers to respond to local environmental stimuli has motivated the researchers to develop stimuli-responsive polymers having natural amino acid units either in the main-chain or in the side-chain, their self-assembled nanostructures, hydrogel networks. Side-chain amino acid based polymers are inherently pH responsive by virtue of free amine groups in the side chain that can be reversibly protonated/deprotonated. By careful modification in the backbone as well as side chains using responsive groups sensitive towards a certain stimulus, polymers responsive to several other stimuli can be developed. At the same time the self-assembly of these side-chain amino acid-based polymers in to free-standing gel-phase materials in selective organic hydrocarbons can be used to selectively congeal oil from the oil/water biphasic mixture. The self-assembly is typically driven by non-covalent interactions between the various segments in the side-chain of the polymer. We further demonstrate that the packing efficiency of the polymeric organogelators and hence the mechanical stability of the formed organogel is essentially dependent on the three-dimensional polymer architecture (linear or hyperbranched) along with the -R group of amino acid, additional interactions (hydrogen bonding, π-π stacking interactions) among the terminal end-groups as well as steric effects arising from the polymer backbone.

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