US 5,143,828 AGranted

Method for synthesizing an enzyme-catalyzed polymerized monolayer

AssigneesThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army, University of Massachusetts Lowell

InventorsJoseph A. Akkara, David L. Kaplan, Lynne A. Samuelson, Braja K. Mandal, Sukant K. Tripathy, Ferdinando F. Bruno, Kenneth A. Marx

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

patentgrep

Loading patent…

Abstract

A method for synthesizing enzyme-catalyzed polymers using the Langmuir-Blodgett technique. In one embodiment, the process comprises spreading one or more enzyme-polymerizable monomers on a water-miscible solvent. The monomers are sufficiently surface active that they align themselves on the air-solvent interface. Next, pressure is applied to the interface to form a monolayer made up of the monomers. An enzyme is then introduced into the solvent, causing polymerization of the monomers in the monolayer. The polymeric monolayers produced by the present method are easier to process and have reduced cross-linking and branching as compared to similar polymers produced in bulk by enzyme-catalyzed reactions.

Claims13

Dependent claims

A method for synthesizing an enzyme-catalyzed, polymerized monolayer comprising the steps of:

a) spreading at least one or more monomers selected from the group consisting of a phenol an an aromatic amine over a water-miscible solvent subphase having an air-subphase interface, said one or more monomers being capable of forming a monolayer at said air-subphase interface and said one or more monomers being polymerizable with an oxidase enzyme system by introducing the enzyme into the subphase;
b) compressing said air-subphase interface so as to form a monolayer comprising said one or more monomers whereby there is an arrangement of monomers at the interface wherein at least one monomer is aligned at the interface while at least one other monomer is partitioned to varying degrees between the subphase and air-subphase interface;
and
c) polymerizing said monomers to form a copolymerized monolayer with said enzyme system.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.