Liu Chenchen, Bian Xuhui, Kwok Ryan T K, Lam Jacky W Y, Han Lei, Tang Ben Zhong
Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, Division of Life Science, and State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China.
College of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, Shandong 266109, China.
JACS Au. 2022 Sep 15;2(9):2162-2168. doi: 10.1021/jacsau.2c00436. eCollection 2022 Sep 26.
As the most abundant and renewable biopolymer on earth, cellulose can be functionalized for various advanced applications by chemical modification. In addition, fluorescent polymers with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) are generally prepared using chemical approaches, and the biosynthesis of AIE-active polymers are rarely investigated. Herein, fluorescent cellulose was successfully synthesized by bacterial fermentation, where glucosamine-modified AIE luminogen was incorporated into cellulose to achieve AIE-active biopolymers. Excitingly, real-time visualization of the synthetic process was realized, which is crucial for investigating the process of bacterial fermentation. The biosynthesized cellulose exhibited better performance with uniform fluorescence distribution and high stability, compared with that prepared by physical absorption. Additionally, fluorescent mats were fabricated by electrospinning of AIE-active cellulose, demonstrating its great potential applications in flexible display and tissue engineering.
作为地球上最丰富且可再生的生物聚合物，纤维素可通过化学修饰实现功能化，以用于各种先进应用。此外，具有聚集诱导发光（AIE）特性的荧光聚合物通常采用化学方法制备，而对AIE活性聚合物的生物合成研究较少。在此，通过细菌发酵成功合成了荧光纤维素，其中将氨基葡萄糖修饰的AIE发光团掺入纤维素中，以实现具有AIE活性的生物聚合物。令人兴奋的是，实现了合成过程的实时可视化，这对于研究细菌发酵过程至关重要。与通过物理吸附制备的纤维素相比，生物合成的纤维素表现出更好的性能，具有均匀的荧光分布和高稳定性。此外，通过对AIE活性纤维素进行静电纺丝制备了荧光垫，证明了其在柔性显示和组织工程中的巨大潜在应用。
