Conducting Silicone-Based Polymers and Their Application

Over the past two decades, both fundamental and applied research in conducting polymers have grown rapidly. Conducting polymers (CPs) are unique due to their ease of synthesis, environmental stability, and simple doping/dedoping chemistry. Electrically conductive silicone polymers are the current state-of-the-art for, e.g., optoelectronic materials. The combination of inorganic elements and organic polymers leads to a highly electrically conductive composite with improved thermal stability. Silicone-based materials have a set of extremely interesting properties, i.e., very low surface energy, excellent gas and moisture permeability, good heat stability, low-temperature flexibility, and biocompatibility. The most effective parameters constructing the physical properties of CPs are conjugation length, degree of crystallinity, and intra- and inter-chain interactions. Conducting polymers, owing to their ease of synthesis, remarkable environmental stability, and high conductivity in the doped form, have remained thoroughly studied due to their varied applications in fields like biological activity, drug release systems, rechargeable batteries, and sensors. For this reason, this review provides an overview of organosilicon polymers that have been reported over the past two decades.

Protecting Groups in Peptide Synthesis

The protection of amino acid reactive functionalities including the α-amino group, the side chain (amines, carboxylic acids, alcohols, and thiols), or the carboxylic acid terminus is an essential strategy in peptide chemistry. This is mandatory to prevent polymerization of the amino acids and to minimize undesirable side reactions during the synthetic process. Proper protecting group manipulation strategies can maximize the yield of the desired product or allow the construction of complex peptide-based structures. Thus, the compatibility and orthogonality of each protecting group are key to achieve the proper control of molecular structure. Herein, we describe some common protecting groups and their general unmasking methods, in order to mask and expose amine, carboxylic acid, alcohol, and thiol functionalities to achieve the synthesis of peptides and related molecules.