papain catalyzed (co)oligomerization of α-amino acids木瓜蛋白酶催化(co)α-amino酸寡聚化.pdf

Polymers 2012, 4, 710-740; doi:10.3390/polym4010710 OPEN ACCESS polymers ISSN 2073-4360 /journal/polymers Article Papain Catalyzed (co)Oligomerization of α-Amino Acids Leendert W. Schwab, Wouter M. J. Kloosterman, Jakob Konieczny and Katja Loos * Department of Polymer Chemistry Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, Groningen 9747 AG, The Netherlands; E-Mails: leendertschwab@ (L.W.S.); w.m.j.kloosterman@rug.nl (W.M.J.K.); j.r.konieczny@rug.nl (J.K.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: k.u.loos@rug.nl; Tel.: +31-50-363-6867; Fax: +31-50-363-4400. Received: 3 January 2012; in revised form: 6 February 2012 / Accepted: 8 February 2012 / Published: 29 February 2012 Abstract: Four hydrophobic amino acids (Leu, Tyr, Phe, Trp) were oligomerized by the protease papain in homo-oligomerization, binary co-oligomerization and ternary co-oligomerization. After 24 h, solid polydisperse reaction products of the homo-oligomerization were obtained in yields ranging from 30–80% by weight. A DPavg was calculated based on MALDI-ToF MS results using the ion counts for the chains in the product. Based on the DPavg and the yield of the homo-oligomerization it was determined that the amino acids can be ranked according to reactivity in the order: Tyr Leu Phe Trp. Thermal degradation of the homo-oligomers shows two degradation steps: at 178–239 °C and at