Enzymatic polymerization of anilines or phenols around a template

• Main Authors: Samuelson, Lynne A, Tripathy, Sukant K, Bruno, Ferdinando, Nagarajan, Ramaswamy, Kumar, Jayant, Liu, Wei
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 27.05.2003

The invention relates to methods for polymerizing a monomer enzymatically in the presence of a template to form a polymer-template complex. The micelle contains multiple units, each of which contains a hydrophobic part and a hydrophilic part. A preferred unit is dodecyl benzene sulfonic acid. Borate-containing electrolytes include trifluoroborate, trimethylborate and hydrobis(pyridine)boron. Enzymes include peroxidases such as horseradish peroxidase or lignin peroxidase, and laccase. Monomers include unsubstituted and substituted anilines and unsubstituted and substituted phenols.A method is provided for enzymatic polymerization which includes (1) obtaining a reaction mixture including a monomer, a template, and an enzyme; and (2) incubating the reaction mixture for a time and under conditions sufficient for the monomer to align along the template and polymerize to form a polymer-template complex. The template can be a micelle, a borate-containing electrolyte, or lignin sulfonate. The polymer-template complex may be conductive, and possesses exceptional electrical and optical stability, water solubility, and processibility, and can be used in applications such as light-weight energy storage devices (e.g., rechargeable batteries), electrolytic capacitors, anti-static and anti-corrosive coatings for smart windows, and biological sensors.