Oxygen-Tolerant RAFT Polymerization Initiated by Living Bacteria

Gurnani, Pratik; Bennett, Mechelle R.; Moloney, Cara; Catrambone, Francesco; Turco, Federico; Myers, Benjamin; Kovacs, Katalin; Hill, Philip J.; Alexander, Cameron; Rawson, Frankie J.

Abstract

Living organisms can synthesize a wide range of macromolecules from a small set of natural building blocks, yet there is potential for even greater materials diversity by exploiting biochemical processes to convert unnatural feedstocks into new abiotic polymers. Ultimately the synthesis of these polymers in situ might aid the coupling of organisms with synthetic matrices, and the generation of biohybrids or engineered living materials. The key step in biohybrid materials preparation is to harness the relevant biological pathways to produce synthetic polymers with predictable molar masses and defined architec-tures under ambient conditions. Accordingly, we report an aqueous, oxygen-tolerant RAFT polymerization platform based on a modified Fenton reaction which is initiated by Cupriavidus metallidurans CH34, a bacterial species with iron reducing capabilities. We show the synthesis of a range of water-soluble polymers under normoxic conditions, with control over the molar mass distribution, and also the production of block copolymer nanoparticles via polymerization-induced self-assembly. Finally, we highlight the benefits of using a bacterial initiation system by recycling the cells for multiple polymeri-sations. Overall, our method represents a highly versatile approach to producing well-defined polymeric materials within a hybrid natural-synthetic polymerization platform and in engineered living materials with properties beyond those of biotic macromolecules.

Citation

Gurnani, P., Bennett, M. R., Moloney, C., Catrambone, F., Turco, F., Myers, B., …Rawson, F. J. (2022). Oxygen-Tolerant RAFT Polymerization Initiated by Living Bacteria. ACS Macro Letters, 11(8), 954-960. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmacrolett.2c00372

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 5, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Jul 12, 2022
• Publication Date: Aug 16, 2022
• Deposit Date: Jul 6, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 13, 2023
• Journal: ACS Macro Letters
• Electronic ISSN: 2161-1653
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 954-960
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmacrolett.2c00372
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/8851338
• Publisher URL: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsmacrolett.2c00372