Glycopolymer is synthetic polymer with pendant carbohydrates. Glycopolymers play an important role in many biological recognition events such as cell–cell adhesion, development of new tissues and infectious behavior of
virus and
bacteria. They have high potential in targeted drug delivery, tissue engineering and synthesis of bio-compatible materials.
The first glycopolymer was synthesized in 1978 by
free-radical polymerization
In polymer chemistry, free-radical polymerization (FRP) is a method of polymerization by which a polymer forms by the successive addition of free-radical building blocks (repeat units). Free radicals can be formed by a number of different mechanis ...
. Subsequent efforts have been devoted to synthesizing glycopolymers with various structures and sizes, and the synthesis techniques have widened to controlled/living
radical polymerisation
In polymer chemistry, free-radical polymerization (FRP) is a method of polymerization by which a polymer forms by the successive addition of free-radical building blocks (repeat units). Free radicals can be formed by a number of different mechanis ...
,
ring-opening polymerization,
ring-opening metathesis polymerization
Ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) is a type of olefin metathesis chain-growth polymerization. The driving force of the reaction is relief of ring strain in cyclic olefins (e.g. norbornene or cyclopentene). A variety of heterogeneous ...
and post-functionalization.
References
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Polymers
Carbohydrate chemistry