Autonomous Ex Novo Chemical Assembly with Blebbing and Division of Functional Polymer Vesicles from a "Homogeneous Mixture".
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 28985000.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1002/adma.201704368.
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Abstract
The chemical energy and radicals from an oscillating chemical reaction are used to synthesize a polymer vesicle from a homogeneous solution of monomeric units. Periodically formed radicals from the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (B-Z) reaction initiate radical polymerization between a polyethylene glycol based chain transfer agent (PEG-CTA) and hydrophilic acrylonitrile monomers in water. The growth of a hydrophobic chain on the hydrophilic PEG chain induces self-assembly of polymeric amphiphiles to form micrometer-sized vesicles entrapping an active oscillating B-Z reaction. In our experimental conditions, the different chemical environments inside and outside the vesicles contribute to enlarge the area and diameter of the resulting self-assembled vesicles and, in some cases, promote blebbing and division.