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Glycopolymers of Various Architectures—More than Mimicking Nature
Author(s) -
Voit Brigitte,
Appelhans Dietmar
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
macromolecular chemistry and physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.57
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1521-3935
pISSN - 1022-1352
DOI - 10.1002/macp.201000007
Subject(s) - glycomics , nanotechnology , glycopolymer , macromolecule , supramolecular chemistry , polymer science , chemistry , polymer , polymerization , biochemical engineering , materials science , organic chemistry , molecule , engineering , biochemistry , glycan , glycoprotein
Carbohydrates have a highly important role in biological functions. The increasing understanding of their biological interactions has also triggered a strongly increased interest in the preparation of synthetic glycopolymers of various architectures and well‐defined structure which can mimic biological functions in a less complex environment. In the last few years synthetic approaches in polymer science have been refined and newly developed in order to achieve complex carbohydrate architectures and to make use of them in various areas like glycomics, biotechnology, biosensors, and medicine. Besides the use of especially controlled radical polymerization techniques, highly efficient polymer analogous reactions that can be carried out in aqueous media have been developed and applied to linear and dendritic macromolecules. Self assembly aspects and their effectiveness in biological functions have been assessed.