Stimuli-reponsive polymers and their bioconjugates

Chitosan-based hydrogels for controlled, localized drug delivery

Current research on the blends of natural and synthetic polymers as new biomaterials: Review

Polymer coatings are of central importance for many biomedical applications. In the past few years, poly(dopamine) (PDA) has attracted considerable interest for various types of biomedical applications. This feature article outlines the basic chemistry and material science regarding PDA and discusses its successful application from coatings for interfacing with cells, to drug delivery and biosensing. Although many questions remain open, the primary aim of this feature article is to illustrate the advent of PDA on its way to become a popular polymer for bioengineering purposes.

Polydopamine—a nature-inspired polymer coating for biomedical science

While much attention of the MOF community has been devoted to adsorption and purification of gases, there is now also a vast body of data on the capability of MOFs to separate and purify liquid mixtures. Initial studies focused on separation of petrochemicals in apolar backgrounds, but the attention has moved now to the separation of complex, e.g. chiral compounds, and to the isolation of biobased compounds from aqueous media. We here give an overview of most of the existing literature, with an accent on separation mechanisms and structure–selectivity relationships.

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Adsorptive separation on metal-organic frameworks in the liquid phase.

Enzyme-catalyzed gel formation of gelatin and chitosan: potential for in situ applications

The enzyme tyrosinase was used for the in vitro conjugation of the protein gelatin to the polysaccharide chitosan. Tyrosinases are oxidative enzymes that convert accessible tyrosine residues of proteins into reactive o-quinone moieties. Spectrophotometric and dissolved oxygen studies indicate that tyrosinase can oxidize gelatin and we estimate that 1 in 5 gelatin chains undergo reaction. Oxidized tyrosyl residues (i.e., quinone residues) can undergo nonenzymatic reactions with available nucleophiles such as the nucleophilic amino groups of chitosan. Ultraviolet/visible, (1)H-NMR, and ir provided chemical evidence for the conjugation of oxidized gelatin with chitosan. Physical evidence for conjugation was provided by dynamic viscometry, which indicated that tyrosinase catalyzes the sol-to-gel conversion of gelatin/chitosan mixtures. The gels formed from tyrosinase-catalyzed reactions were observed to differ from gels formed by cooling gelatin. In contrast to gelatin gels, tyrosinase-generated gels had different thermal behavior and were broken by the chitosan-hydrolyzing enzyme chitosanase. These results demonstrate that tyrosinase can be exploited for the in vitro formation of protein-polysaccharide conjugates that offer interesting mechanical properties.

Heather D. Embree

Papers

Enzyme-catalyzed gel formation of gelatin and chitosan: potential for in situ applications

In vitro protein–polysaccharide conjugation: Tyrosinase-catalyzed conjugation of gelatin and chitosan

Oxygenated aromatic compounds from renewable resources: motivation, opportunities, and adsorptive separations

Detection of chromosomal alteration after infusion of gene-edited allogeneic CAR T cells.