| Research Abstract |
1.Synthesis of photo-crosslinkable poly(amino acids by watery process and its application for hybrid fibers
Two kinds of cationic polypeptides, poly(L-lysine) (PLL) and poly(L-ornithine) (PLO) were treated to incorporate the photoreactive coumaryloxyacetyl groups into the side chain amino groups of the PLL and PLO. The resulting coumarin-containing cationic polypeptides were spun into the PIC fibers with the anionic polysaccharide gellan in water. The mechanical strength of the coumarin-containing PIC fibers further increased upon light-irradiation.
2.Preparation of Biopolymer Hybrid Capsules Formed by Self-Assembly at an Aqueous Solution Interface
True spherical capsules are formed by electrostatic polysaccharide interaction between chitosan and gellan gum via polyion complex (PIC) formation in aqueous solutions. Dropwise addition of a chitosan solution into the gellan solution gave spherical capsules whose outside surface was gellan and whose inside was chitosan. The releasing propertie
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s of the capsules were examined using low molecular weight substances and high molecular weight proteins. For low molecular weight substances, the releasing kinetics were affected by the attractive and repulsive. interactions between the substances and the inside component of the capsule. The molecular weight of the encapsulated substances also affects the releasing kinetics.
3.Reinforced Fiber Material Inspired from the Byssogenous System of the Marine Mussel
The molecular mechanism involved in the byssogenous system of the marine mussels inspires the mew technology for creating a hybrid material in aqueous media. In a series of our studies to create the biomimetic hybrid fibers, capsules, hydrogels, and adhesives, we focused on the quinone-coupling chemistry, which occurs along with the byssus formation. The novel polysaccharide and poly(amino acid) derivatives were designed and synthesized. They have the grafted peptide side chan as the enzyme-mediated cross-linker, allowing the mechanical reinforcement of the hybrid materials. Less
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