Synthesis of poly[isobutyl (2S,3R)-3-benzyloxyaspartate]

A chiral poly(3-substituted isobutyl D -aspartate) 12 was synthesized by polymerization of the chiral β-lactam 11 derived from D -glyceraldehyde. The new polyamide was characterized by elemental analyses, and infrared, ¹H- and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopies. The molecular weight was estimated as 543 000 and 230 000 on the basis of viscosimetric measurements and gel-permeation chromatography, respectively. Polyamide 12 is soluble in a variety of organic solvents including chloroform.