Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Polymer Characteristics Of Polyelectrolyte Polypeptides, Jorge Monreal

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Polypeptides are polymerized chains of amino acids linked covalently through peptide bonds. Polyelectrolyte polypeptides are polypeptides with electrolyte repeating groups. Several amino acids contain ionizable side chains which result in charge distributions when dissolved in aqueous solutions. This dissertation is motivated by a desire to gain knowledge of polyelectrolyte polypeptides as recent advances in chemical synthesis of polypeptides have made possible the fabrication of designed polypeptides that do not naturally occur in nature. Potential applications of newly designed polypeptides span the range from medical to clothing and energy even to robotics.

In this dissertation we compare the characteristic behavior of …