One-pot low temperature synthesis and characterization of hybrid poly(2-pyrrolidone) microparticles suitable for protein immobilization

Abstract

Neat and hybrid poly(2-pyrrolidone), i.e. polyamide 4 (PA4) microparticles containing magnetic or conductive metal, metal oxide, or carbon nanotube fillers were prepared via environmentally-friendly solventless activated ring-opening polymerization of 2-pyrrolidone at 40 C. The method produces high porosity microparticles with diameters of 5e12 mm and conversion to PA4 of 56e65%. Their structure and properties were characterized by light-and electron microscopy, thermal, spectral and Xray diffraction techniques. Two crystalline polymorphs, namely aÀ and bÀPА4, were found to coexist at room temperature by X-ray diffraction. The assessment of the adsorption capacity of the PA4 hybrid microparticles toward model protein showed up to 60% efficiency only after 1 h of incubation without any preliminary activation or functionalization.

Polymer-Assisted Biocatalysis: Polyamide 4 Microparticles as Promising Carriers of Enzymatic Function

“…The scheme for the AAROP representing the chemical structure of all substances involved is presented in Figure S1 of the Supporting Information. When the polymerization is carried out in the presence of magnetic micro/nanoparticles, the PA4 MP become susceptible to external magnetic fields [24].…”

“…The Fe-and Fe 3 O 4 containing PA4 microparticles become less spherical, as seen from the roundness parameter d max /d min (Table 1, Figure S2). This means that the PA4-Fe MP would contain in their core up to 4-5 iron microparticles whose proper size is 3-5 µm, while the PA4-Fe 3 O 4 core would expectedly contain iron oxide particles in the nanometer length scale [24,28]. The d max /d min in the range of 3-4 found in both magnetic empty supports are attributable to self-assembly of magnetized Fe and Fe 3 O 4 to higher aspect ratio aggregates with their subsequent coating with PA4 during the AAROP.…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, at this point of time, no attempt has been reported on laccase immobilization by polyamide particulate supports. Very recently, Dencheva et al [24] synthesized neat and magnetic responsive PA4 [(poly-2-pyrrolidone), PPD] microparticles in good yields, with controlled size, shape, and porosity using activated anionic ring-opening polymerization (AAROP) of 2-pyrrolidone (2PD) carried out at 40 • C. This low-temperature and solventless process produces magnetic PA4 microparticles with controllable size, shape, and structure. There are certain advantageous factors in this technique that can open promising routes towards novel recyclable and efficient biocatalysts: PA4 is biodegradable in various environments [25,26], its monomer 2-pyrrolidone can be produced by sustainable biosynthesis [27], and the polyamide support is synthesized directly in the form of porous microparticles without the need of any additional treatment.…”

“…Evidently, the neat and magnetic responsive PA4 microparticles combine most of the requirements for effective supports of biomolecules. Moreover, they have already been found to be good supports for model proteins [24] or to be used in molecular imprinting [28].…”

Suspension polymerization of 2‐pyrrolidone in the presence of CO2 and organic promoters

“…[4][5][6] Furthermore, PBL could be decomposed in activated sludge, compost soils, in vivo and even in seawater. [7][8][9][10][11] Therefore, as a novel bio-based and biodegradable polyamide, PBL may not only be potentially utilized as a high-performance material in traditional and biomedical fields, [12][13][14][15] but also help to alleviate the fossil energy crisis and white pollution. Although PBL exhibits such excellent performance, it has never been commercialized due to obstacles in large-scale polymerization.…”