Spiropyran-modified concanavalin

E. Zahavy, S. Rubin, and I. Willner, Conformational dynamics associated with photoswitchable binding of spiropyran-modified concanavalin A, Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst., 246, 195-199 (1994). 

I. Willner, S. Rubin and Y. Cohen, Photoregulated binding of spiropyran-modified concanavalin A to monosaccharide-functionalized self-assembled monolayers on gold electrodes, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 115,4937-4938 (1993). 

One recent trend has been away from using a photochromic dye itself merely as an individual component of a solution, polymer film or bulk polymer matrix. Instead, the photochromic is chemically linked to a polymer, which may be a natural polymer such as a cellulose derivative, an enzyme, a protein, or synthetic polymers from acrylates, urethanes, and vinyl compounds. The properties of the polymer can then be modified by external irradiation, and conversely, the properties of the photochromic are modified by the polymer. A recent biochemical example is the photocontrolled binding of monosaccharides to concanavalin A (Con A) modified with spiropyran units.208... 

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