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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 13, 2026

Self-assembly of Complex Two-dimensional Shapes from Single-stranded DNA Tiles

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Published on: May 8, 2015

Star-Shaped Polyphenolic Polypeptides Serving as Assembling-Typed Drug Carriers.

Zebin Fang¹, Guoqiao Xu², Hao Yan^1,2

¹Department of Neurosurgery, the First affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, P. R. China.

Biomacromolecules

|February 12, 2026

Summary

We developed a new method to create star polypeptides using tannic acid cores and polymeric arms. This approach enhances material properties and improves the biological safety of polypeptides for biomedical uses.

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Non-chromatographic Purification of Recombinant Elastin-like Polypeptides and their Fusions with Peptides and Proteins from Escherichia coli

Non-chromatographic Purification of Recombinant Elastin-like Polypeptides and their Fusions with Peptides and Proteins from Escherichia coli

Published on: June 9, 2014

Area of Science:

Biomaterials Science
Polymer Chemistry
Nanotechnology

Background:

Star polypeptides offer unique physicochemical properties for biomedical applications.
Challenges in polypeptide translation include synthesis efficiency, structural control, and biological safety.
Tannic acid (TA) is a natural polyphenol with potential for material development.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop an efficient and safe synthesis strategy for star polypeptides.
To create star polypeptides with tannic acid cores and well-defined polymeric arms.
To explore the biomedical potential of these novel polyphenolic polypeptides.

Main Methods:

Utilized a 1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidine (TMG)-catalyzed ring-opening polymerization of N-carboxyanhydride (NCA) monomers.
Employed tannic acid (TA) as a multi-site initiator to form star polypeptide architectures.
Characterized the synthesized star polypeptides for their structure, properties, and self-assembly behavior.

Main Results:

Achieved efficient polymerization with monomer conversion up to 91.6% using the TMG-catalyzed NCA strategy.
Synthesized star polypeptides with tannic acid cores and controllable polymeric arm numbers and lengths.
Demonstrated remarkable nanofabrication capabilities and broad-spectrum small-molecule drug encapsulation.
Enhanced the biosafety of polypeptides by utilizing natural TA as an initiator.

Conclusions:

The developed TMG-catalyzed NCA polymerization strategy provides an efficient route to synthesize star polypeptides.
The resulting polyphenolic polypeptides exhibit promising properties for biomedical applications, including drug delivery.
This approach offers a fundamentally improved approach to polypeptide biosafety, facilitating translation to clinical use.