Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Origin of Life Initiative, Harvard University, 20 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, 87501, USA.
Adv Mater. 2017 Nov;29(43). doi: 10.1002/adma.201704368. Epub 2017 Oct 6.
The chemical energy and radicals from an oscillating chemical reaction are used to synthesize a polymer vesicle from a homogeneous solution of monomeric units. Periodically formed radicals from the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (B-Z) reaction initiate radical polymerization between a polyethylene glycol based chain transfer agent (PEG-CTA) and hydrophilic acrylonitrile monomers in water. The growth of a hydrophobic chain on the hydrophilic PEG chain induces self-assembly of polymeric amphiphiles to form micrometer-sized vesicles entrapping an active oscillating B-Z reaction. In our experimental conditions, the different chemical environments inside and outside the vesicles contribute to enlarge the area and diameter of the resulting self-assembled vesicles and, in some cases, promote blebbing and division.
化学能和自由基从一个振荡化学反应中被利用，从单体单元的均相溶液中合成聚合物囊泡。Belousov-Zhabotinsky（B-Z）反应周期性形成的自由基引发基于聚乙二醇的链转移剂（PEG-CTA）和水相中的亲水性丙烯腈单体之间的自由基聚合。疏水性链在亲水性 PEG 链上的生长诱导两亲性聚合物的自组装形成微米级的囊泡，包封活性的振荡 B-Z 反应。在我们的实验条件下，囊泡内外的不同化学环境有助于扩大所得自组装囊泡的面积和直径，并且在某些情况下，促进泡状突起和分裂。
