Open AccessMolecular recognition with soft biomaterials
Author(s) -
John R. Clegg,
Nicholas Peppas
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
soft matter
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 170
eISSN - 1744-6848
pISSN - 1744-683X
DOI - 10.1039/c9sm01981b
Subject(s) - nanotechnology , biosensor , molecular recognition , drug delivery , materials science , ligand (biochemistry) , design elements and principles , combinatorial chemistry , chemistry , computer science , molecule , biochemistry , organic chemistry , receptor , software engineering
Biomacromolecules and engineered materials can achieve molecular recognition if they engage their ligand with properly oriented and chemically complementary moieties. Recently, there has been significant interest in fabricating recognitive soft materials, which possess specific affinity for biological analytes. We present a summary and evaluation of current recognitive materials for biosensing, drug delivery, and regenerative medicine applications. We highlight the impact of material composition on the extent and specificity of ligand adsorption, citing new theoretical and empirical evidence. We conclude with a guide for synthesizing and characterizing novel recognitive materials, as well as recommendations for ligand selection and experimental design.