Journal
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
Volume 141, Issue 30, Pages 11997-12004Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.9b04730
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Funding
- National Science Foundation [DMR-1506937]
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Spontaneous association above a threshold concentration is a hallmark of supramolecular polymerization, in which monomeric units self-assemble into polymeric aggregates through noncovalent interactions. This self-initiated supramolecular process differs from the conventional covalent chain-growth polymerization in that the latter often involves the use of a different chemical entity as an initiator to trigger/control the polymerization process. We report here the use of a small molecule hydrophobe, paclitaxel (PTX), as an effective promoter to induce the supramolecular polymerization of a peptide-paclitaxel conjugate, Spheropax (Spax). We found that Spax monomers alone in water self-assemble into spherical micelles of approximately 6.5 nm in diameter but, in the presence of free PTX, undergo a supramolecular polymerization process to form filamentous assemblies of several micrometers in length. Increasing the ratio of promoter to monomer (PTX/Spax) induces Spax's directional polymerization and expedites its kinetic process. We believe these findings provide important insight into the initiator-controlled supramolecular polymerization process.
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