Synthesis of optically active Poly (B5AMA)

The biomolecules present in nature are chiral and the chirality of these molecules define their biological properties. For example amino acids are chiral and proteins in our body are made up of L- amino acids only. Chirality can be defined as the ability of molecules to rotate polarized light, and is termed as optical activity. Typically during the synthesis of biological molecules by synthetic polymer chemistry, the optical activity of these molecules is lost during the polymerization process. Taking into account the importance of the structural configuration over the biological activity, the synthesis of optically active polymers could contribute to optimizing the performance of polymeric materials in applications such as drug delivery, purification processes, and synthesis of anti-fouling surfaces. The objective of this research is the synthesis of poly-(vitamin B5 analogous methacrylamide) poly (B5AMA) that retains the structural configurations and optical activity of its precursors molecule (D- or L- pantolactone) through RAFT (reverse addition-fragmentation chain-transfer) polymerization. This will be achieved by the synthesis of 2-amino ethyl methacrylamide (AEMA) monomer and its polymerization by RAFT approach. Poly(AEMA) of different sized made will be conjugated with D- or Lpantolactone by the post polymerization reaction under mild conditions.