title: Reinvestigation on the buildup mechanism of alternate multilayers consisting of poly(L-glutamic acid) and poly(L-, D-, and DL-lysines).
abstract: The buildup mechanism of polypeptide multilayers prepared by the layer-by-layer deposition of a polyanion (poly(L-glutamic acid) (PGA)) and polycations (poly(L-lysine) (PLL), poly(D-lysine) (PDL), and copoly(DL-lysine)(PDLL)) was reinvestigated by using in situ ATR-IR spectroscopy. A difference spectral technique applied to analyze the spectra indicated that the deposition of both the PGA and PLL (PDL) layers accompanies the formation of secondary structures consisting mainly of the antiparallel pleated sheet (the beta-sheet) structure, and that the formation of the beta-sheet structure cannot always be explained in terms of polyanion/polycation complex formation or charge compensation between the polyanion and polycations, although it has been considered as a major process in the multilayer buildup process. Instead, the present paper proposes the following mechanism. During the deposition of the polyelectrolyte, a small amount of the beta-sheet structures are produced at the interface as a result of charge compensation between a polyelectrolyte and an oppositely charged polyelectrolyte in the multilayer. The beta-sheets act as nuclei from which further propagation of the structure takes place at the solution/multilayer interfaces. The driving force of the buildup process in the new mechanism is a kinetically favorable insolubilization of each polyelectrolyte in solution at the interfaces.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Advanced School of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan. itohk@waseda.jp
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Itoh
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tokumi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nagase
mesh_terms: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D011099:Polyglutamic Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D011107:Polylysine / Q000737:chemistry*; D012996:Solutions; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D012996:Solutions; D011107:Polylysine; D011099:Polyglutamic Acid