ROLE OF THE STRUCTURAL PARAMETERS OF THE MACROMOLECULAR MATRIX IN POLYMER-SUPPORTED PEPTIDE-SYNTHESIS - ATTEMPTS AT OPTIMIZATION

Investigations into the optimization of the structural parameters of t he macromolecular matrix with a view to designing efficient polymer su pports for peptide synthesis are reported. The dependence on the chemi cal nature of the monomers, nature and extent of crosslinking the meth od of polymerization, hydrophobic-hydrophilic balance of the matrix, i ts chemical and mechanical stability, ease of functionalization, swell ing!solvation behaviour, porosity and pore dimensions of the resin par ticles, and the chemical reactivity of the attached functional moiety on the variables of polymer synthesis are delineated. Acrylamide was c rosslinked with highly hydrophilic tetraethyleneglycol diacrylate and triethyleneglycol dimethacrylate through medium polar N,N'-methylene-b is-acrylamide to highly hydrophobic and rigid divinylbenzene. These co poly(acrylamide)s were amino-functionalized by polymer-analogous react ions. The extent of functionalization, reactivity, porous nature, solv ent compatibility and thermal behaviour of these resins was found to b e dependent on the fine molecular character as well as on the nature a nd extent of crosslinking.