Abstract
In this work, a new class of highly stretchable peptide-polyurethane/ureas (PUUs) were synthesized containing short β-sheet forming peptide blocks of poly(γ-benzyl-l-glutamate)-b-poly(propylene glycol)-b-poly(γ-benzyl-l-glutamate) (PBLG-b-PPG-b-PBLG), isophorone diisocyanate as the hard segment, and polytetramethylene ether glycol as the soft phase. PBLG-b-PPG-b-PBLG with short peptide segment length (<10 residues) was synthesized by amine-initiated ring opening polymerization of γ-benzyl-l-glutamate-N-carboxyanhydrides (BLG-NCA), which shows mixed α-helix and β-sheet conformation, where the percent of β-sheet structure was above 48%. Morphological studies indicate that the obtained PUUs show β-sheet crystal and nanofibrous structure. Mechanical tests reveal the PUUs display medium tensile strength (0.25–4.6 MPa), high stretchability (>1600%), human-tissue-compatible Young’s modulus (226–513 KPa). Furthermore, the shape recovery ratio could reach above 85% during successive cycles at high strain (500%). In this study, we report a facile synthetic method to obtain highly stretchable and recovery peptide-polyurethane/urea materials, which will have various potential applications such as wearable and implantable electronics, and biomedical devices.
Highlights
Nature utilizes an intriguing strategy to yield biomaterials with high performance characteristics, such as stiffness, toughness, and extensibility by exploring hierarchical architecture [1,2]
An examination of natural structural proteins, such as silks, collagens, and elastins, reveals that hierarchical long-range ordered structures of peptides play a critical role in achieving superior mechanical properties [3,4]
As shown in Scheme 1, PBLG-b-PPG-b-PBLG was synthesized by amine-initiated ring opening polymerization of BLG-NCA, where the molar ratio of monomer and initiator is 10
Summary
Nature utilizes an intriguing strategy to yield biomaterials with high performance characteristics, such as stiffness, toughness, and extensibility by exploring hierarchical architecture [1,2]. Elastins achieve high stretchability and resilience by covalently crosslinking of short peptide chains [8] Given their architectural feature and unique properties, the use of structural proteins as building blocks for material design will have tremendous promises in various potential applications such as cell scaffolding, tissue engineering, and smart materials [9]. Harvesting these natural proteins in large scale is so far difficult. A new class of highly stretchable and recovery peptide-polyurethane/ureas (PUUs) were synthesized containing short β-sheet forming peptide blocks. We believe this work will provide new insight for developing highly stretchable polypeptide materials, which would have various potential applications such as wearable and implantable electronics, and biomedical devices
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