US Government As Represented by the Secretary of the Army

Other

Wei Liu

Jayant Kumar

Ferdinando F Bruno

Lynne Ann Samuelson

Ramaswamy Nagarajan

Susan Tripathy, Legal Representative

Sukant K Tripathy

The invention relates to a novel method for enzymatic polymerization which includes (1) obtaining a reaction mixture including a monomer, a template, and an enzyme; and (2) incubating the reaction mixture for a time and under conditions sufficient for the monomer to align along the template and polymerize to form a polymer-template complex. The template can be a micelle, a borate-containing electrolyte, or lignin sulfonate. Such a complex possesses exceptional electrical and optical stability, water solubility, and processibility, and can be used in applications such as light-weight energy storage devices (e.g., rechargeable batteries), electrolytic capacitors, anti-static and anti-corrosive coatings for smart windows, and biological sensors.

Enzymatic polymerization

Polymer-template complex produced by enzymatic polymerization

A conductive polymer is formed enzymatically in the presence of a polynucleotide template. The method includes combining at least one redox monomer with a polynucleotide template and a redox enzyme, such as horseradish peroxidase, to form a reaction mixture. The monomer aligns along the template before or during the polymerization. Therefore, the polynucleotide template thereby affects the molecular weight and conformation of the conductive polymer. When the conductive polymer is complexed to a polynucleotide duplex, the conformation of the polynucleotide duplex can be modulated by changing the oxidation state of the conductive polymer.

Method of forming an electrically conductive connection utilizing a polynucleotide/conductive polymer complex

Enzymatic template polymerization

Enzymatic polymerization of anilines or phenols around a template

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Lowell, MA, United States of America

Wei Liu