Synthesis of Modular Brush Polymer-Protein Hybrids Using Diazotransfer and Copper Click Chemistry

Bioconjug Chem. 2018 Aug 15;29(8):2594-2605. doi: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.8b00309. Epub 2018 Jul 26.

Abstract

Proteoglycans are important brush-like biomacromolecules, which serve a variety of functions in the human body. While protein-bottlebrush hybrids are promising proteoglycan mimics, many challenges still exist to robustly produce such polymers. In this paper, we report the modular synthesis of protein-brush hybrids containing elastin-like polypeptides (ELP) as model proteins by copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition. We exploit the recently discovered imidazole-1-sulfonyl azide (ISA) in a diazotransfer reaction to introduce an N-terminal azide onto an ELP. Next, we use a click reaction to couple the azido-ELP to an alkyne-terminated amine-rich polymer followed by a second diazotransfer step to produce an azide-rich backbone that serves as a scaffold. Finally, we used a second click reaction to graft alkyne-terminated poly(oligoethylene glycol methacrylate) (POEGMA) bristles to the azide-rich backbone to produce the final protein-bottlebrush hybrid. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this synthetic path at each step through careful characterization with 1H NMR, FTIR, GPC, and diagnostic test reactions on SDS-PAGE. Final reaction products could be consistently obtained for a variety of different molecular weight backbones with final total grafting efficiencies around 70%. The high-yielding reactions employed in this highly modular approach allow for the synthesis of protein-bottlebrush hybrids with different proteins and brush polymers. Additionally, the mild reaction conditions used have the potential to avoid damage to proteins during synthesis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Azo Compounds / chemistry*
  • Catalysis
  • Chromatography, Gel
  • Click Chemistry*
  • Copper / chemistry*
  • Cycloaddition Reaction
  • Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel
  • Humans
  • Polymers / chemical synthesis
  • Polymers / chemistry*
  • Proteins / chemical synthesis
  • Proteins / chemistry*
  • Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared

Substances

  • Azo Compounds
  • Polymers
  • Proteins
  • Copper