Surface Coassembly of Polymer Brushes and Polymer–Protein Bioconjugates: An Efficient Approach to the Purification of Bioconjugates under Mild Conditions

Well-defined polymer–protein bioconjugates are widely used in therapeutics and biocatalysis. One of the challenges in the synthesis of bioconjugates is the efficient separation of the target conjugate molecules from reaction systems. In this research, surface coassembly of polymer brushes and polymer–protein bioconjugates is investigated, and it is demonstrated that the coassembly approach can be applied in the purification of polymer–protein bioconjugates. Bovine serum albumin-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (BSA-PNIPAM) bioconjugates were synthesized by the “grafting from” approach, and PNIPAM brushes on silica particles were prepared by the “grafting to” approach. PNIPAM brushes on silica particles are able to coassemble with BSA-PNIPAM at a temperature above the lower critical solution temperature of PNIPAM. Two-layer surface structures with collapsed PNIPAM in the inner layers and BSA in the outer layers are formed on the silica particles. The size of the silica particles and molecular weight of PNIPAM on the bioconjugates exert influences on the coassembly. The coassembly approach can be used in the purification of bioconjugates. After repeated coassembly centrifugation-release cycles, all the BSA-PNIPAM bioconjugates can be removed from the reaction solutions, and the purified bioconjugates are obtained.