Functional Materials with Glycopolymers

Abstract

Glycopolymers, polymers with sugars in the side chains of polymers, are biobased polymers. Glycopolymers can be synthesized mainly by addition polymerization with the vinyl sugar derivatives, and are unique materials that allow the use of synthetic polymer technology for sugars, which is otherwise difficult to handle. Glycopolymers are useful for the development of water-soluble polymers, amphiphilic polymers, and biofunctional materials. As physical properties, glycopolymers possess physicochemical properties such as water-solubility and amphiphilicity, as well as self-assembling properties. In addition, because of their saccharide-accumulated structure, glycopolymers have strong molecular recognition properties based on the multivalent effect and interact strongly with proteins, cells, pathogens, and other substances. The molecular recognizability can be controlled by precision polymerization and fused with other materials to create bio-devices.