Mapping the Interfacial Chemistry and Structure of Partially Fluorinated Bottlebrush Polymers and Their Linear Analogues.

Polymer interfaces are key to a range of applications including membranes for chemical separations, hydrophobic coatings, and passivating layers for antifouling. While important, challenges remain in probing the interfacial monolayer where the molecular ordering and orientation can change depending on the chemical makeup or processing conditions. In this work, we leverage surface specific vibrational sum frequency generation (SFG) and the associated dependence on molecular symmetry to elucidate the ordering and orientations of key functional groups for poly(2,2,2-trifluoroethyl methacrylate) bottlebrush polymers and their linear polymer analogues. These measurements were framed by atomistic molecular dynamic simulations to provide a complementary physical picture of the gas-polymer interface. Simulations and SFG measurements show that methacrylate backbones are buried beneath a layer of trifluoroethyl containing side groups that result in structurally similar interfaces regardless of the polymer molecular weight or architecture. The average orientational angles of the trifluoroethyl containing side groups differ depending on polymer linear and bottlebrush architectures, suggesting that the surface groups can reorient via available rotational degrees of freedom. Results show that the surfaces of the bottlebrush and linear polymer samples do not strongly depend on molecular weight or architecture. As such, one cannot rely on increasing the molecular weight or altering the architecture to tune surface properties. This insight into the polymer interfacial structure is expected to advance the design of new material interfaces with tailored chemical/functional properties.

Determining population densities in bimodal micellar solutions using contrast-variation small angle neutron scattering.

Self-assembly of amphiphilic polymers in water is of fundamental and practical importance. Significant amounts of free unimers and associated micellar aggregates often coexist over a wide range of phase regions. The thermodynamic and kinetic properties of the microphase separation are closely related to the relative population density of unimers and micelles. Although the scattering technique has been employed to identify the structure of micellar aggregates as well as their time-evolution, the determination of the population ratio of micelles to unimers remains a challenging problem due to their difference in scattering power. Here, using small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), we present a comprehensive structural study of amphiphilic n-dodecyl-PNIPAm polymers, which shows a bimodal size distribution in water. By adjusting the deuterium/hydrogen ratio of water, the intra-micellar polymer and water distributions are obtained from the SANS spectra. The micellar size and number density are further determined, and the population densities of micelles and unimers are calculated to quantitatively address the degree of micellization at different temperatures. Our method can be used to provide an in-depth insight into the solution properties of microphase separation, which are present in many amphiphilic systems.

Molecular reorganization in bulk bottlebrush polymers: direct observation via nanoscale imaging.

Bottlebrush polymers are important for a variety of applications ranging from drug delivery to electronics. The functional flexibility of the branched sidechains has unique assembly properties when compared to linear block polymer systems. However, reports of direct observation of molecular reorganization have been sparse. This information is necessary to enhance the understanding of the structure-property relationships in these systems and yield a rational design approach for novel polymeric materials. In this work, we report direct visualization of bottlebrush molecular organization and the formation of nematic-type ordering in an amorphous polymer bottlebrush system, captured with plasma etching and helium ion microscopy. By observing the unperturbed structure of this material at high resolution and quantifying image features, we were able to qualitatively link experimental results with structures predicted by coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations. The direct visualization and computation workflow developed in this work can be applied to a broad variety of polymers with different architectures, linking imaging results with other, independent channels of information for better understanding and control of these classes of materials.

Kinetic Effects on Self-Assembly and Function of Protein-Polymer Bioconjugates in Thin Films Prepared by Flow Coating.

The self-assembly of nanostructured globular protein arrays in thin films is demonstrated using protein-polymer block copolymers based on a model protein mCherry and the polymer poly(oligoethylene glycol acrylate) (POEGA). Conjugates are flow coated into thin films on a poly(ethylene oxide) grafted Si surface, forming self-assembled cylindrical nanostructures with POEGA domains selectively segregating to the air-film interface. Long-range order and preferential arrangement of parallel cylinders templated by selective surfaces are demonstrated by controlling relative humidity. Long-range order increases with coating speed when the film thicknesses are kept constant, due to reduced nucleation per unit area of drying film. Fluorescence emission spectra of mCherry in films prepared at <25% relative humidity shows a small shift suggesting that proteins are more perturbed at low humidity than high humidity or the solution state.

The nature of protein interactions governing globular protein-polymer block copolymer self-assembly.

The effects of protein surface potential on the self-assembly of protein-polymer block copolymers are investigated in globular proteins with controlled shape through two approaches: comparison of self-assembly of mCherry-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) bioconjugates with structurally homologous enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-PNIPAM bioconjugates, and mutants of mCherry with altered electrostatic patchiness. Despite large changes in amino acid sequence, the temperature-concentration phase diagrams of EGFP-PNIPAM and mCherry-PNIPAM conjugates have similar phase transition concentrations. Both materials form identical phases at two different coil fractions below the PNIPAM thermal transition temperature and in the bulk. However, at temperatures above the thermoresponsive transition, mCherry conjugates form hexagonal phases at high concentrations while EGFP conjugates form a disordered micellar phase. At lower concentration, mCherry shows a two-phase region while EGFP forms homogeneous disordered micellar structures, reflecting the effect of changes in micellar stability. Conjugates of four mCherry variants with changes to their electrostatic surface patchiness also showed minimal change in phase behavior, suggesting that surface patchiness has only a small effect on the self-assembly process. Measurements of protein/polymer miscibility, second virial coefficients, and zeta potential show that these coarse-grained interactions are similar between mCherry and EGFP, indicating that coarse-grained interactions largely capture the relevant physics for soluble, monomeric globular protein-polymer conjugate self-assembly.

Genome-based cryptic gene discovery and functional identification of NRPS siderophore peptide in Streptomyces peucetius.

Identification of secondary metabolites produced by cryptic gene in bacteria may be difficult, but in the case of nonribosomal peptide (NRP)-type secondary metabolites, this study can be facilitated by bioinformatic analysis of the biosynthetic gene cluster and tandem mass spectrometry analysis. To illustrate this concept, we used mass spectrometry-guided bioinformatic analysis of genomic sequences to identify an NRP-type secondary metabolite from Streptomyces peucetius ATCC 27952. Five putative NRPS biosynthetic gene clusters were identified in the S. peucetius genome by DNA sequence analysis. Of these, the sp970 gene cluster encoded a complete NRPS domain structure, viz., C-A-T-C-A-T-E-C-A-T-C-A-T-C domains. Tandem mass spectrometry revealed that the functional siderophore peptide produced by this cluster had a molecular weight of 644.4 Da. Further analysis demonstrated that the siderophore peptide has a cyclic structure and an amino acid composition of AchfOrn-Arg-hOrn-hfOrn. The discovery of functional cryptic genes by analysis of the secretome, especially of NRP-type secondary metabolites, using mass spectrometry together with genome mining may contribute significantly to the development of pharmaceuticals such as hybrid antibiotics.

Layer-by-layer nanoparticles with a pH-sheddable layer for in vivo targeting of tumor hypoxia.

Inspired by the simplicity and versatility of layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly, we applied multilayered polyelectrolyte assemblies on nanoparticles to create viable systemic delivery systems. Focusing on tumor-specific delivery, LbL nanoparticles that exhibit a pH-sensitive outer stealth layer are demonstrated to target and be retained in hypoxic tumor regions. The neutral layers shed in response to acidity to reveal a charged nanoparticle surface that is readily taken up by tumor cells. The first in vivo demonstration of this mechanism of targeting is presented, as well as an initial examination of the mechanism of uptake of the nanoparticles. We further demonstrate that this concept for tumor targeting is potentially valid for a broad range of cancers, with applicability for therapies that target hypoxic tumor tissue.