Liquid-Phase Condensation via Macromolecular Crowding in Polymerization-Induced Electrostatic Self-Assembly

Macromolecular crowding plays a key role in liquid-phase condensation of proteins and membraneless organelles yet is largely unexplored for artificial liquid materials. Herein, we present a strategy for direct access to multiphase liquid condensates with individual charged/neutral subdomains, by int...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ACS macro letters 2021-11, Vol.10 (11), p.1410-1415
Main Authors: Ma, Lei, Xiong, Weixing, Yu, Kaiwen, Wang, Xiyu, Cao, Ying, Lu, Xinhua, Cai, Yuanli
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ions
Macromolecular Substances
Polymerization
Proteins
Static Electricity
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Summary:Macromolecular crowding plays a key role in liquid-phase condensation of proteins and membraneless organelles yet is largely unexplored for artificial liquid materials. Herein, we present a strategy for direct access to multiphase liquid condensates with individual charged/neutral subdomains, by introducing macromolecular crowding to our previous protocol of liquid–liquid phase-separation-driven polymerization-induced electrostatic self-assembly (LLPS-PIESA). We show that reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) aqueous dispersion photo-copolymerization of a charged monomer with a specific neutral monomer, in the presence of a polar macrochain transfer agent (CTA) and an oppositely charged polyion, can induce self-sorting and macromolecular crowding. LLPS-PIESA proceeds via liquid-phase condensation of as-assembled nascent clusters up to biologically important nanostructured multiphase condensates with individual charged/neutral subdomains.
ISSN:2161-1653
2161-1653
DOI:10.1021/acsmacrolett.1c00557