TY - JOUR
T1 - Combining polymers with the functionality of proteins
T2 - new concepts for atom transfer radical polymerization, nanoreactors and damage self-reporting materials
AU - Bruns, Nico
AU - Lörcher, Samuel
AU - Makyla, Katarzyna
AU - Pollarda, Jonas
AU - Renggli, Kasper
AU - Spulber, Mariana
PY - 2013/11/1
Y1 - 2013/11/1
N2 - Proteins are macromolecules with a great diversity of functions. By combining these biomolecules with polymers, exciting opportunities for new concepts in polymer sciences arise. This highlight exemplifies the aforementioned with current research results of our group. We review our discovery that the proteins horseradish peroxidase and hemoglobin possess ATRPase activity, i.e. they catalyze atom transfer radical polymerizations. Moreover, a permeabilization method for polymersomes is presented, where the photoreaction of an α-hydroxyalkylphenone with block copolymer vesicles yields enzyme-containing nanoreactors. A further intriguing possibility to obtain functional nanoreactors is to enclose a polymerization catalyst into the thermosome, a protein cage from the family of chaperonins. Last but not least, fluorescent proteins are discussed as mechanoresponsive molecular sensors that report microdamages within fiber-reinforced composite materials.
AB - Proteins are macromolecules with a great diversity of functions. By combining these biomolecules with polymers, exciting opportunities for new concepts in polymer sciences arise. This highlight exemplifies the aforementioned with current research results of our group. We review our discovery that the proteins horseradish peroxidase and hemoglobin possess ATRPase activity, i.e. they catalyze atom transfer radical polymerizations. Moreover, a permeabilization method for polymersomes is presented, where the photoreaction of an α-hydroxyalkylphenone with block copolymer vesicles yields enzyme-containing nanoreactors. A further intriguing possibility to obtain functional nanoreactors is to enclose a polymerization catalyst into the thermosome, a protein cage from the family of chaperonins. Last but not least, fluorescent proteins are discussed as mechanoresponsive molecular sensors that report microdamages within fiber-reinforced composite materials.
KW - biotransformations
KW - enzyme-catalyzed atom transfer radical polymerization
KW - mechanoresponsive materials
KW - nanoreactors
KW - polymer-protein hybrid materials
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84892163263&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2533/chimia.2013.777
DO - 10.2533/chimia.2013.777
M3 - Article
C2 - 24388228
AN - SCOPUS:84892163263
VL - 67
SP - 777
EP - 781
JO - CHIMIA
JF - CHIMIA
SN - 0009-4293
IS - 11
ER -