Responsive Polymer-Protein Conjugates

The key to successful polymerisation from the protein in solution was the use of sacrificial polymerisation initiators on an added insoluble resin. With the resin present the P(NIPAM) polymers grew in a controlled fashion from the protein although the polydispersity (PDI) was quite high compared to other polymers grown by atom-transfer radical polymerisation (ATRP). Nevertheless, this paper demonstrated the principle of growing polymers from biomolecule surfaces and this technique has much to offer for 

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P. De, M. Li, D.R. Gondi, and B.S. Sumerlin, Temperature-regulated activity of responsive polymer-protein conjugates prepared by grafting-from via RAFT polymerization, J Am Chem Soc, 130 (34), 11288-9, 2008. 

Li, M. (2010). Stimuli-responsive polymer-protein conjugates prepared by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization. Dissertation. Southern methodist university, 185 pages 3418903. http //gradworks.umi.com/34/18/3418903.html. 

An interesting application of polymer protein conjugates has been reviewed by Alexander et al. [75,76]. By connecting stimulus responsive synthetic polymers to enzymes, the enzyme activity could be directed by varying temperature or by UV illumination, since this resulted in a change in hydro-dynamic volume of the polymers attached [77]. In general, the attachment of polymer chains proved to stabilize the enzymes. In case of the prote-... 

Kim IK, Bunz UHF (2006) Modulating the sensory response of a conjugated polymer by proteins an agglutination assay for mercury ions in water. J Am Chem Soc 128 2818-2819... 

Fig. 4 Novel drug delivery systems using stimuli-responsive polymers, (a) Morphology changes of poly(2-isopropyl- 2-oxazoline) (PiPrOx) and poly(benzyl ether)dendrons dendritic-linear block copolymers conjugates are Temperature- and pH-dependent.[105] (Copyright 2012, Royal Society of Chemistry) (b) Protein-binding-induced disassembly of dendron-based micelles. This inducible micelle disassembly is selective to the targeted protein and the disassembly can mediate release of the encapsulated therapeutic drugs.[106] (Copyright 2010, American Chemical Society)...

Cell-sensing biomacromolecules responsive Smart protein-polymer conjugates ... 

A wide variety of biomacromolecules have been investigated for the preparation of bioconjugates, including proteins, polysaccharides, DNA plasmids, lipids and phospholipids. However, the most attractive and versatile systems are based on the conjugation of thermo-responsive polymers to different proteins, useful for a great variety of medical devices such as implants, diagnostics, biosensors and immunoassays (Gupta and Mattiasson, 2006 Hoffman, 2000 Pennadam, 2004). 

Hoffman, A. S. and Stayton, P. S. (2007) Conjugates of stimuli-responsive polymers and proteins . Progress in Polymer Science, 32,922-932. 

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