Approaches to Chemical Synthesis of Protein-Like Copolymers

Protein-like copolymers were first predicted by computer-aided biomimetic design. These copolymers consist of comonomer units of differing hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity. Heterogeneous blockiness, inherent in such copolymers, promotes chain folding with the formation of specific spatial packing: a dense core consisting of hydrophobic units and a polar shell formed by hydrophilic units. This review discusses the approaches, those that have already been described and potential approaches to the chemical synthesis of protein-like copolymers. These approaches are based on the use of macromolecular precursors as well as the appropriate monomers. In addition, some specific physicochemical properties of protein like copolymers, especially their solution behaviour in aqueous media, are considered.