Sequence-Defined Synthetic Polymers for New-Generation Functional Biomaterials
Zhengyu Deng, Qiangqiang Shi, Jiajia Tan, Jinming Hu, Shiyong Liu
Abstract
Synthetic polymers have been extensively exploited for biomedical and pharmacological applications, spanning from surgical devices, diagnostics, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, to drug delivery systems. However, a fundamental and quantitative correlation between the primary chemical structures of polymeric biomaterials and the resulting biological responses remains elusive. Encouragingly, the advent and development of sequence-defined polymers (SDPs) provide an unprecedented opportunity to precisely tune their sequence information, intrachain folding, interchain self-assembly, and macroscopic properties, enabling the elucidation of the structure–property relationship of biomaterials. In this Perspective, we highlight recent advances of SDPs as next-generation functional biomaterials, and their potential applications in antimicrobial agents, bioactive ligands, precision drug delivery systems, bioimaging agents, and barcoded biomaterials, from sequence-defined synthetic oligomers and polymers. Finally, we present a critical outlook on the challenges in the design and development of SDP-based emergent biomaterials.