Synthesis of Macromolecules Containing Phenylalanine and Aliphatic Building Blocks

Aiming at developing efficient interfacial agents for fiber-reinforced composite materials, macromolecules are designed to have different components able to stick to the fiber and be compatible with the polymer matrix, respectively. Herein, macromolecules are prepared by solid-phase synthesis considering phenylalanine residues to promote adsorption of the macromolecule on aramid fibers and aliphatic building blocks to interact with a hydrophobic polymer matrix. Using phenylalanine as building block for the preparation of macromolecules by iterative synthesis has been shown to be challenging. Thus, the screening of various parameters for the optimization of the synthesis of these macromolecules is discussed in this communication. A preliminary thermal study by thermal gravimetric analysis is conducted to evaluate their thermal stability.