Biomolecular Densely Grafted Brush Polymers: Oligonucleotides, Oligosaccharides and Oligopeptides

Abstract

In this Minireview, we describe synthetic polymers densely functionalized with sequence‐defined biomolecular sidechains. We focus on synthetic brush polymers of oligonucleotides, oligosaccharides, and oligopeptides, prepared via graft‐through polymerization from biomolecule functionalized monomers. The resulting structures are brush polymers wherein a biomolecular graft is positioned at each monomer backbone unit. We describe key synthetic milestones, identify synthetic opportunities, and highlight recent advances in the field, including biological applications.

Glycopolymers against pathogen infection

“…36,46,47 For homomultivalent glycopolymers, this has provided insights into the effects of glycan density as well as valency, and in recent studies also of the chain architecture -e.g., linear vs. branched/brushed or cyclic -on avidity and selectivity in protein binding. 48,49 For heteromultivalent glycopolymers, sequencecontrol is less established; however, heteromultivalency has already proven a powerful tool to tune bioactivity. Thus, it can be expected that sequence-controlled heteromultivalent glycopolymers will become increasingly important in the future.…”

“…, linear vs. branched/brushed or cyclic – on avidity and selectivity in protein binding. 48,49 For heteromultivalent glycopolymers, sequence-control is less established; however, heteromultivalency has already proven a powerful tool to tune bioactivity. Thus, it can be expected that sequence-controlled heteromultivalent glycopolymers will become increasingly important in the future.…”

Local detection of pH-induced disaggregation of biocompatible micelles by fluorescence switch ON

“…31,32 Moreover, ROMP polymerization recently emerged as a powerful polymerization technique in nanomedicine as both natural motifs and targeting moieties or therapeutics can be easily polymerized. [33][34][35][36][37] Therefore, in this study we aimed to exploit such polymerization technique to prepare micellar NP able to respond to relevant physiological environments with a fluorescence "switch ON".…”

Inflammation-Responsive Micellar Nanoparticles from Degradable Polyphosphoramidates for Targeted Delivery to Myocardial Infarction

“…In recent years, ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP), which generates well-defined polymers with diverse structure and function, − has been further explored in the context of generating polymers with degradable backbones . Given the excellent functional group tolerance, monomers with a variety of degradable linkages, such as acetal/ketal, − carbonate, oxazinone, enol ether, silyl ether, phosphoester, and phosphoramidate, have been successfully polymerized via ROMP.…”