Living polymerizations are of continual interest to the scientific community for the precision control in molecular mass and end-group functionality they afford. One of the attractive advantages of these reactions is the possibility to form block copolymers with composition and structure tailored to specific applications. Enzymes have also attracted significant attention as polymerization catalysts because of their ability to mediate reactions with high stereo- and regio-specificity under “green” reaction conditions. While they were sporadically used in the synthesis of random copolymers no block copolymerization attempts have been successfully accomplished so far. Here we report a new method for the construction of block copolymers based on a “pseudo-living” environmentally friendly polymerization catalyzed by laccase. Block copolymers of tyrosine and 7-hydroxycoumarin, N,N'-bis-(m-hydroxyphenyl)-3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic-3,4,9,10-diimide, or 4-(pyren-1-yl-methoxy)-phenol were synthesized in aqueous medium yielding fluorescent water soluble polymers. All of them show interesting composition-dependent solution behavior. The development of this novel method of block copolymerization will open avenues to interesting materials for multidisciplinary use.

Enzyme-mediated quasi-living polymerization: New “green” route to block copolymers

251st National Meeting (2016)

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