Polyelectrolytes containing thymine pendant groups: a ?Swiss Army knife? for preparation of supramolecular assemblies for biosensing, microencapsulation, and photosensitization

C.D. BORSARELLI

Foz do Iguazu

Congreso; 41th CONFERENCE OF THE BRAZILIAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY; 2018

Sociedad Brasilera de Quimica

Supramolecular assemblies made of multifunctional biomimetic polyelectrolytes are of great interest in biophysical, bioanalytical, and biomedical fields. Normally these structures are formed by electrostatic interactions, e.g. by layer-by-layer (LbL) films between chains of opposite charge, or by interaction with charged surfaces or molecules. Modification of polyelectrolyte chains with hydrophobic and/or reactive pendant groups can introduce new alternatives for the construction and properties of these supramolecular assemblies, e.g. size, shape, film thickness, mechanical stability, permeation, etc. In this talk, are presented recent studies from our lab regarding the preparation and characterization of supramolecular structures prepared with DNA-bioinspired polyelectrolytes containing vinylbenzylthymine (VBT) and vinylbenzyltriethylammonium chloride (VBA) or sodium vinylphenylsulfonate (VPS) monomers, to form polyelectrolytes of general structure {[(VBT)(VBA)m]m+}n or {[(VBT)(VPS)m]m-}n with m = 1, 2, 4 and 8 and n = 20-40.The DNA-bioinspired polyelectrolytes were used for the preparation of hydrogels containing nanoclays and redox enzymes for the preparation of bioelectrodes and their application in chemical sensing in food matrices; hollow microcapsules with mechanical stability and solute permeability modulated by photo-crosslinking of polyelectrolyte chains by dimerization of thymine pendant groups; stabilization of silver nanoparticles, and interaction with the xanthene dye Eosin Yellow to form supramolecular aggregates with optimal photosensitizing properties. In summary, the DNA-bioinspired polyelectrolytes {[(VBT)(VBA)m]m+}n are {[(VBT)(VPS)m]m-}n are versatile molecules behaving like a ?Swiss Army knife? for the preparation of supramolecular assemblies with application in biosensing, drug delivery, nanoparticle stabilization and photosensibilization.