In recent years, polyelectrolytes have attracted attention due to their potential low fouling properties and specific interactions with biological matter and cells. Amino acids as natural zwitterionic molecules may serve as starting material for the preparation of amino-acid-derived polyelectrolytes, which, in addition to their charge, also carry other biomimetic motifs such as chirality.

We describe the potential to exploit amino acids for the preparation of polyelectrolytes via different synthetic approaches and their characterisation. We further show how minor changes to the chemical Identity of amino-acid-derived polyelectrolytes can lead to drastic changes in their properties as well as their interactions with biological matter. This presentation aims to show the potential of amino acid derivates for the preparation of systematic polymer libraries, which are well needed to gain a better understanding about structure-property-relationships of polymer systems.