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Thermally Induced Reversible Self‐Assembly of Apoferritin–Block Copolymer Complexes
Author(s) -
Korpi Antti,
Skumial Piotr,
Kostiainen Mauri A.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.201900308
Subject(s) - copolymer , cationic polymerization , supramolecular chemistry , aqueous solution , polymer , self assembly , materials science , electrolyte , polymer chemistry , block (permutation group theory) , chemistry , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , molecule , electrode , organic chemistry , geometry , mathematics , engineering , composite material
Protein cages are interesting building blocks for functional supramolecular assemblies. A multi‐responsive system composed of apoferritin and thermo‐responsive block copolymers complexed through electrostatic interactions is described here. The polymers are linear chains with cationic and thermo‐responsive blocks, and both diblock and triblock copolymers are studied. The apoferritin can be reversibly assembled and disassembled in aqueous solutions by altering the temperature and electrolyte concentration of the solutions. The control over the conditions is straightforward and all the components can be recovered, offering a potential alternative for systems requiring chemical or genetic modification of proteins.