Albertsson Ann-Christine, Srivastava Rajiv K
Fibre and Polymer Technology, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Teknikringen 56-58, Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, SE 100 44, Stockholm, Sweden.
Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2008 Jun 10;60(9):1077-93. doi: 10.1016/j.addr.2008.02.007. Epub 2008 Feb 26.
An exponential growth has been observed in the last decade where enzymes were used as catalysts for polymerization of different monomers and due to enzyme's origin from natural sources they have been taken as a substitute for the metal-based catalytic systems. Mild polymerization conditions, high enantio- and regio-selectivity and recyclability of enzymes give them an extra edge over the use of organo-metallic catalysts. Though the enzyme-catalyzed polymerizations are environmentally highly advantageous, the high cost, large quantity of enzymes required for polymerization and formation of relatively low molecular weight polymers obstruct their employment in the industry. Due to these reasons, this technique is still at the stage of infancy to generate polymeric materials which can be converted to any useful physical form. In this article enzyme-catalyzed ring-opening polymerization of lactones, lactides, cyclic carbonates and depsipeptides has been reviewed with special focus on the molecular weight of the polymers synthesized hitherto using enzyme catalysis. It is necessary to obtain polymers of sufficient molecular weight from enzyme catalysis to withstand the specific requirements of their end applications if this technique is desired to be escalated to commercial level.
在过去十年中，人们观察到一种指数式增长，即酶被用作不同单体聚合反应的催化剂，并且由于酶源自天然来源，它们已被视为金属基催化体系的替代品。温和的聚合条件、高对映选择性和区域选择性以及酶的可回收性，使它们在使用有机金属催化剂方面具有额外优势。尽管酶催化聚合在环境方面具有高度优势，但高成本、聚合所需的大量酶以及形成相对低分子量聚合物阻碍了它们在工业中的应用。由于这些原因，该技术仍处于起步阶段，难以生产出可转化为任何有用物理形式的聚合物材料。在本文中，对内酯、丙交酯、环状碳酸酯和环肽的酶催化开环聚合进行了综述，特别关注了迄今为止使用酶催化合成的聚合物的分子量。如果希望将该技术提升到商业水平，有必要通过酶催化获得具有足够分子量的聚合物，以满足其最终应用的特定要求。
