Side‐chain amino‐acid‐based polymers: self‐assembly and bioapplications.

Abstract

The design and development of side-chain amino-acid-based polymeric nanostructures have attracted a significant research interest as they bring a remarkable revolution in various territories of the biomedical field. The incorporation of amino acid moieties into the side chain of synthetic polymeric scaffolds exhibits several beneficial properties like aqueous solubility, chiral recognition, high biocompatibility, stimuli responsiveness, antifouling properties, as well as their capability to form higher ordered self-assembled architectures. Considering the important features and widespread applications of side-chain amino-acid-containing polymers, here we shed light on the self-assembled characteristics of side-chain amino-acid-containing polymers and their implications. The primary aim of this review article is to highlight the recent achievements of this bright area of research. We describe the numerous aspects of side-chain amino-acid-containing polymers focusing mainly on self-assembly properties and the biomedical applications, which include drug and gene delivery, antimicrobial activity, antifouling coating, wound healing, tissue engineering etc. © 2021 Society of Industrial Chemistry.