One-pot synthesis of brush-like polymers via integrated ring-opening metathesis polymerization and polymerization of amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides.

We report here the integration of ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) and ring-opening polymerization of the amino acid N-carboxyanhydride (NCA) to allow facile synthesis of brush-like polymers containing polypeptide as the brush side chains. ROMP of N-trimethylsilyl norbornenes rendered the preparation of poly(norbornene)s bearing pendant N-TMS groups. With no need to purify the resulting polymers, such macromolecular initiators could subsequently initiate controlled NCA polymerizations. Brush-like poly(norbornene)s with grafted polypeptides or block copolypeptides were readily obtained with controlled molecular weights and narrow molecular weight distributions. Because numerous ROMP and NCA monomers are widely available, this novel polymerization technique will allow easy access to numerous brush-like hybrid macromolecules with unprecedented properties and broad applications.