Research Projects

Mimics of natural proteins like collagen, elastin, and fibroin are crucial for biomedical applications and other industries. Synthesis of polypeptide mimics often involves replacing normal peptide bonds with their surrogate, triazole, which is known for its stability and robustness. Solution-state synthesis has drawbacks such as precipitation of small oligomers, toxicity of metal ions, and tedious purification steps. Topochemical polymerization (TP) is an efficient method that eliminates these drawbacks and offers precise control over the supramolecular structure of polymers, resulting in advanced properties. The topochemical azide-alkyne cycloaddition (TAAC) reaction is an efficient method that eliminates the need for solvent, reagents, and catalysts. TAAC has been used to synthesize 1D-polymers with interesting structures and properties due to their crystalline nature. The success of TAAC polymerization led to the use of this strategy for pseudo-polypeptide synthesis. TAAC results in the formation of stable aromatic triazole linkage, making the polymerization irreversible. Different monomers, consisting of repeating sequences commonly found in natural proteins like collagen, elastin, and fibroin, can undergo TAAC polymerization to yield various biopolymer mimics. The presence of distinct repeating units in the polymers derived from these monomers offers advanced properties. These polymerizations are expected to occur in a single-crystal-to-single-crystal (SCSC) manner, providing structural insights crucial for understanding structure-property correlations.