TY - JOUR
T1 - Where Biology and Traditional Polymers Meet
T2 - The Potential of Associating Sequence-Defined Polymers for Materials Science
AU - Destefano, Audra J.
AU - Segalman, Rachel A.
AU - Davidson, Emily C.
N1 - Funding Information:
R.A.S. and A.J.D. acknowledge support by the Center for Materials for Water and Energy Systems (M-WET), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award #DE-SC0019272. A.J.D. also acknowledges support from the U.S. Department of Defense through the National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship Program. E.C.D. acknowledges startup funding from Princeton University and support by the Princeton University Library Open Access Fund.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.
PY - 2021/10/25
Y1 - 2021/10/25
N2 - Polymers with precisely defined monomeric sequences present an exquisite tool for controlling material properties by harnessing both the robustness of synthetic polymers and the ability to tailor the inter- and intramolecular interactions so crucial to many biological materials. While polymer scientists traditionally synthesized and studied the physics of long molecules best described by their statistical nature, many biological polymers derive their highly tailored functions from precisely controlled sequences. Therefore, significant effort has been applied toward developing new methods of synthesizing, characterizing, and understanding the physics of non-natural sequence-defined polymers. This perspective considers the synergistic advantages that can be achieved via tailoring both precise sequence control and attributes of traditional polymers in a single system. Here, we focus on the potential of sequence-defined polymers in highly associating systems, with a focus on the unique properties, such as enhanced proton conductivity, that can be attained by incorporating sequence. In particular, we examine these materials as key model systems for studying previously unresolvable questions in polymer physics including the role of chain shape near interfaces and how to tailor compatibilization between dissimilar polymer blocks. Finally, we discuss the critical challenges-in particular, truly scalable synthetic approaches, characterization and modeling tools, and robust control and understanding of assembly pathways-that must be overcome for sequence-defined polymers to attain their potential and achieve ubiquity.
AB - Polymers with precisely defined monomeric sequences present an exquisite tool for controlling material properties by harnessing both the robustness of synthetic polymers and the ability to tailor the inter- and intramolecular interactions so crucial to many biological materials. While polymer scientists traditionally synthesized and studied the physics of long molecules best described by their statistical nature, many biological polymers derive their highly tailored functions from precisely controlled sequences. Therefore, significant effort has been applied toward developing new methods of synthesizing, characterizing, and understanding the physics of non-natural sequence-defined polymers. This perspective considers the synergistic advantages that can be achieved via tailoring both precise sequence control and attributes of traditional polymers in a single system. Here, we focus on the potential of sequence-defined polymers in highly associating systems, with a focus on the unique properties, such as enhanced proton conductivity, that can be attained by incorporating sequence. In particular, we examine these materials as key model systems for studying previously unresolvable questions in polymer physics including the role of chain shape near interfaces and how to tailor compatibilization between dissimilar polymer blocks. Finally, we discuss the critical challenges-in particular, truly scalable synthetic approaches, characterization and modeling tools, and robust control and understanding of assembly pathways-that must be overcome for sequence-defined polymers to attain their potential and achieve ubiquity.
KW - copolymer
KW - dispersity
KW - morphology
KW - patterning
KW - polypeptoid
KW - self-assembly
KW - sequence-defined polymer
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124218561&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85124218561&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/jacsau.1c00297
DO - 10.1021/jacsau.1c00297
M3 - Article
C2 - 34723259
AN - SCOPUS:85124218561
VL - 1
SP - 1556
EP - 1571
JO - Journal of the American Chemical Society
JF - Journal of the American Chemical Society
SN - 0002-7863
IS - 10
ER -