Polypeptide grafted hyaluronan: A self-assembling comb-branched polymer constructed from biological components.
Rheological evidence is provided demonstrating that covalent grafting of monodisperse isotactic poly(L-leucine) branches onto linear hyaluronan (HA) polysaccharide chains yields comb-branched HA chains that self-assemble into long-lived physical networks in aqueous solutions driven by hydrophobic interactions between poly(L-leucine) chains. This is in stark contrast to native (unmodified) HA solutions which exhibit no tendency to form long-lived physical networks.
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Utah, 50 S. Central Campus Drive, Rm 3290, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, USA.
Madhuvanthi A
MA
Kandadai
Rajasekhar
R
Anumolu
Xiaojun
X
Wang
Durairaj
D
Baskaran
Leonard F
LF
Pease
Dmitry
D
Bedrov
Grant D
GD
Smith
Jimmy W
JW
Mays
Jules J
JJ
Magda