DNA-Accelerated Radical Polymerization

DNAÐpolymer bioconjugates have been attractive for wide applications in biosensing, bioimaging, drug delivery, tissue engineering, etc. in the past two decades. Surface-initiated polymerizations for grafting DNA-polymer bioconjugates were conducted in both ATRP and RAFT approaches. DNA-accelerated radical polymerization was found to exist in both systems, and a significantly increased polymer growth atop the DNA was observed in comparison with polymer growth atop small organic molecules. This proposal aims 1) to provide a detailed investigation on different experimental factors that could impact the DNAÐmonomers/polymers interactions for bioconjugate growth and 2) to further explore a hypothetical mechanism of DNA-accelerated radical polymerization. The results could facilitate a deep understanding of molecular recognitions in a dynamic bio-related polymer growth system and discover the possibility of living organism growth and development mediated by DNA as genetic biomacromolecules.