Synthesis and properties of chitosan/polypeptide bioconjugate composite

Adhesive polypeptide containing the key component of mussel adhesive protein was synthesized by ring-opening polymerization, and a hybrid material of the adhesive polypeptide and chitosan was prepared through the solution method. Some strong hydrogen bond interaction existed, but without the chemical bond between chitosan and polypeptide molecular in the composites, which was demonstrated by IR and XRD. Tensile strength and elongation-at-break of the composite increased with the increase of the polypeptide content. However, the mechanical properties decreased when the content of polypeptide was more than 2% in the composite; all in all, the mechanical properties of the composite were better than the pure chitosan. Furthermore, the introduction of polypeptide was beneficial in improving the hydrophilicity and cell affinity of the composite. The results indicated that the novel chitosan/polypeptide composite has excellent biocompatibility, which could be a scaffold material for cell culture in tissue engineering.