Hydrophobic Functionalization of Polyacrylic Acid as a Versatile Platform for the Development of Polymer Lipid Nanodisks.

ABSTRACT: Polymer nanodisks have shown great potential as membrane mimetics that enable the study of functional membrane protein structural biology and also have a wider application in other fields such as drug delivery. To achieve these research goals, the ability to have a cheap, simple, fully customizable platform for future nanodisks technology applications is paramount. Here, a facile functionalization of polyacrylic acid (PAA) with varying hydrophobic groups that form nanodisks at different sizes is successfully demonstrated. The study shows that the choice of hydrophobic group can have a noticeable effect on the polymer solubilization properties and polymer-induced perturbation to the encased lipid bilayer. Due to this robust, tunable chemical synthesis method, PAA is an exciting platform for

SUBMITTER: Hardin NZ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7433539 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature