The ring‐opening polymerisation of α‐amino acid N‐carboxyanhydrides (NCAs) offers a simple and scalable route to polypeptides with predicted and narrow molecular weight distributions. Here we show how polyoxometalates (POMs)—redox‐active molecular metal‐oxide anions—can serve as inorganic scaffold initiators for such NCA polymerisations. This “On‐POM polymerisation” strategy serves as an innovative platform to design hybrid materials with additive or synergistic properties stemming from the inorganic and polypeptide component parts. We have used this synthetic approach to synthesise a library of bactericidal poly(lysine)–POM hybrid derivatives that can be used to prevent biofilm formation. This versatile “On‐POM polymerisation” method provides a flexible synthetic approach for combining inorganic scaffolds with amino acids, and the potential to tailor and improve the specificity and performance of hybrid antimicrobial materials.

中文翻译：

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N-羧酸酐在POM上的开环聚合

α-氨基酸N的开环聚合‐羧酸酐（NCA）提供了一种简单且可扩展的途径，以预测分子量分布狭窄的多肽。在这里，我们展示了多金属氧酸盐（POM）（氧化还原活性分子金属氧化物阴离子）如何用作此类NCA聚合反应的无机支架引发剂。这种“ On-POM聚合”策略可作为创新平台，设计出具有无机或多肽组成部分相加或具有协同作用的杂化材料。我们已经使用这种合成方法合成了可用于防止生物膜形成的杀菌性聚赖氨酸-POM杂合衍生物库。这种通用的“在POM上聚合”方法为将无机支架与氨基酸结合在一起提供了灵活的合成方法，