Side-Functionalization of Poly( l -methionine) for Ice Control

作者：Qingjing Niu, Ke Shang, Huimin Han, Binlin Chen, Kongying Zhu, Lixia Ren, Xiaoyan Yuan · 发表于：Biomacromolecules · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1021/acs.biomac.5c00086 · 被引用次数：10 · 研究领域：Synthesis and properties of polymers、Surface Modification and Superhydrophobicity、Fiber-reinforced polymer composites

Controlling ice growth is crucial during the cryopreservation of cells, but the current application of small molecules as cryoprotectants still remains a challenge. Inspired by structures of natural antifreeze (glyco)proteins, in this work, functionalized poly(l-methionine)s (PMets) are synthesized with different side groups including hydroxyl, threonine-mimetic with both methyl and hydroxyl groups (PMet-MOH), zwitterion with carboxyl and sulfonium (PMet-COOH), glycerol, and trehalose pendants. Results suggest that these functionalized PMets tend to self-assemble into 100-300 nm nanoparticles with positive charges in water. The functional structures have a remarkable influence on their ice control properties. It is supposed that PMet-MOH inhibits ice growth possibly through the adsorption mechanism by adjacent methyl and hydroxyl groups, whereas trehalose-tethered PMet can restrict diffusion of water molecules with the strongest ice recrystallization inhibition activity and zwitterionic PMet-COOH promotes ice nucleation obviously. This work offers valuable insight into the development of functional polypeptides as promising biocompatible cryoprotectants.