{
  "abstract": "Despite sharing a common macromolecular foundation, synthetic polymers and sequencedefined biomacromolecules have historically evolved along distinct trajectories. Extending the principles of polymerization beyond synthetic materials to nature’s own sequence-defined polymers therefore remains a longstanding challenge. Here we address this challenge by developing a controlled chain-growth polymerization strategy for the synthesis of repetitive sequence-defined native polypeptides. A traceless peri-naphthalene cascade relays the propagating chain end while connecting peptide segments exclusively through native peptide bonds. The resulting synthetic polypeptides reproduce the sequence-dependent biophysical behavior of recombinant analogues while accommodating non-canonical α-, β-, and ᴅ-amino acids. This work fundamentally expands the molecular complexity accessible through controlled polymerization, placing sequence-defined native biomacromolecules within the same chain-growth paradigm as synthetic polymers.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology",
    "Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey",
    "Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering",
    "Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering",
    "Harvard University"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 9,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Jinxing Li"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Yuchen Ma"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Erika A. Ding"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Jonathan G. Mendes"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Zhenyu Han"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Ian M. Kish"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Thomas J. Emge"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Benjamin S. Schuster"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Yuwei Gu",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9604-7764"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e2xf5ycj2hwp6.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15008205/v1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "e2xf5ycj2hwp6",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008205/v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "1605|Advanced Polymer Synthesis and Characterization"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7204991629",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-02",
  "publisher": "American Chemical Society (ACS)",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e2xf5ycj2hwp6.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:17Z",
      "native_id": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15008205",
      "source": "chemrxiv",
      "url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008205/v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "chemistry",
      "origin": "openalex:1605|Advanced Polymer Synthesis and Characterization",
      "subfield": "organic"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Chain-Growth Synthesis of Sequence-Defined Native Polypeptides via Traceless Cascade Polymerization",
  "title_text": "Chain-Growth Synthesis of Sequence-Defined Native Polypeptides via Traceless Cascade Polymerization",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:17Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e2xf5ycj2hwp6",
  "venue": "ChemRxiv",
  "versions": []
}