Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 5, 2025

Optical Control of Living Cells Electrical Activity by Conjugated Polymers
Published on: January 28, 2016
Elucidating the Role of Optical Activity of Polymers in Protein-Polymer Interactions
Samin Jahan1, Catherine Doyle1, Anupama Ghimire2
1Department of Chemistry, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PE C1A 4P3, Canada.
Abstract:
Proteins are biomolecules with potential applications in agriculture, food sciences, pharmaceutics, biotechnology, and drug delivery. Interactions of hydrophilic and biocompatible polymers with proteins may impart proteolytic stability, improving the therapeutic effects of biomolecules and also acting as excipients for the prolonged storage of proteins under harsh conditions. The interactions of hydrophilic and stealth polymers such as poly(ethylene glycol), poly(trehalose), and zwitterionic polymers with various proteins are well studied. This study evaluates the molecular interactions of hydrophilic and optically active poly(vitamin B5 analogous methacrylamide) (poly(B5AMA)) with model proteins by fluorescence spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy analysis. The optically active hydrophilic polymers prepared using chiral monomers of R-(+)- and S-(-)-B5AMA by the photo-iniferter reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization showed concentration-dependent weak interactions of the polymers with bovine serum albumin and lysozyme proteins. Poly(B5AMA) also exhibited a concentration-dependent protein stabilizing effect at elevated temperatures, and no effect of the stereoisomers of polymers on protein thermal stability was observed. NMR analysis, however, showed poly(B5AMA) stereoisomer-dependent changes in the secondary structure of proteins.
More Related Videos
08:34OaAEP1-Mediated Enzymatic Synthesis and Immobilization of Polymerized Protein for Single-Molecule Force Spectroscopy
Published on: February 5, 2020
06:16Monitoring the Effects of Illumination on the Structure of Conjugated Polymer Gels Using Neutron Scattering
Published on: December 21, 2017
Related Concept Videos
Properties of Enantiomers and Optical Activity
Polymer Classification: Crystallinity
Crystalline domains are the regions where polymer chains are aligned in an orderly manner and held together in proximity by intermolecular forces. For example, chains in the crystalline domains of polyethylene and nylon are bound together by van der Waals...
Polymer Classification: Stereospecificity
Polymers
Measuring Reaction Rates
Protein-protein Interfaces