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Cell Engineering with Functional Poly(oxanorbornene) Block Copolymers
Author(s) -
Church Derek C.,
Pokorski Jonathan K.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.202005148
Subject(s) - romp , copolymer , polymer , functional polymers , polymerization , context (archaeology) , ring opening metathesis polymerisation , bilayer , materials science , fluoropolymer , photosensitizer , metathesis , chemistry , membrane , polymer chemistry , nanotechnology , organic chemistry , paleontology , biochemistry , biology
Cell‐based therapies are gaining prominence in treating a wide variety of diseases and using synthetic polymers to manipulate these cells provides an opportunity to impart function that could not be achieved using solely genetic means. Herein, we describe the utility of functional block copolymers synthesized by ring‐opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) that can insert directly into the cell membrane via the incorporation of long alkyl chains into a short polymer block leading to non‐covalent, hydrophobic interactions with the lipid bilayer. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these polymers can be imbued with advanced functionalities. A photosensitizer was incorporated into these polymers to enable spatially controlled cell death by the localized generation of 1 O 2 at the cell surface in response to red‐light irradiation. In a broader context, we believe our polymer insertion strategy could be used as a general methodology to impart functionality onto cell‐surfaces.