Facile Preparation of Polysarcosine-Tethered Inorganic Nanospheres by Using Unimolecular Polypept(o)ides as Template

Polymer-inorganic nanocomposites that integrate the advantages of both polymers and inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) are broadly exploited for versatile applications. Especially, emerging polymer-templated preparation of inorganic NPs has drawn extensive attention, which is ascribed to simplified synthesis and feasible tunability. However, how to precisely fabricate biocompatible polymer-inorganic NPs remains unsolved. In this article, by mild ring opening polymerization (ROP) of β-benzyl L-aspartate N-carboxyanhydrides (BLA-NCAs) and sarcosine N-carboxyanhydrides (Sar-NCAs) and subsequent debenzylation, a series of poly(amino acid)-based unimolecular micelles (PAMAM-g-(PLA-b-PSar)) are facilely synthesized. Afterward, by utilization of these star-like polymers as template, the controllable preparation of various PSar-tethered inorganic NPs is investigated and characterized meticulously. This general strategy for the preparation of PSar-tethered inorganic NPs can bring a great chance for future fabrication of biomedical nanoplatforms.