Complex coacervation is an appealing method of microencapsulating delicate proteins for controlled drug delivery. Natural polyelectrolytes, such as collagen, gelatin, hyaluronic acid, and chondroitin sulfate, are popular choices for formulating the microspheres. For advantage of versatility, synthetic systems are attractive. Typical synthetic polyelectrolytes are composed of a carbon-carbon backbone that is nonbiodegradable. To design synthetic polyelectrolytes that are biodegradable, we synthesized diamines containing dipeptide or tripeptide sequences that are enzymatically degradable. The enzymatically degradable linkages comprised gly-phe, gly-phe-phe, or gly-gly-phe, and lysine and 2,3-diaminopropionic acid co-monomers served as the charged component. Using an interfacial polymerization technique, these monomers were condensed with diacyl chlorides, including succinyl, adipoyl, or terephthaloyl chloride to form polyamides. Results of gel permeation chromatography and ninhydrin assays showed that the polymers degraded in PBS containing α-chymotrypsin.