Enzymatic oligomerization and polymerization of arylamines: state of the art and perspectives

The literature concerning the oxidative oligomerization and polymerization of various arylamines, e.g., aniline, substituted anilines, aminonaphthalene and its derivatives, catalyzed by oxidoreductases, such as laccases and peroxidases, in aqueous, organic, and mixed aqueous organic monophasic or biphasic media, is reviewed. An overview of template-free as well as template-assisted enzymatic syntheses of oligomers and polymers of arylamines is given. Special attention is paid to mechanistic aspects of these biocatalytic processes. Because of the nontoxicity of oxidoreductases and their high catalytic efficiency, as well as high selectivity of enzymatic oligomerizations/polymerizations under mild conditions-using mainly water as a solvent and often resulting in minimal byproduct formation-enzymatic oligomerizations and polymerizations of arylamines are environmentally friendly and significantly contribute to a "green'' chemistry of conducting and redox-active oligomers and polymers. Current and potential future applications of enzymatic polymerization processes and enzymatically synthesized oligo/polyarylamines are discussed

Synthesis of vinyl polymers via enzymatic oxidative polymerisation

Enzymatic methods for the polymerisation of vinyl monomers are presented and critically discussed. Vinyl monomers can be polymerised initiated by enzyme-catalysed radical formation. The most widely used initiators for this purpose are β-diketo compounds, which can be transformed into the corresponding radicals via peroxidase- or laccase-catalysed oxidation. For this, peroxidases use hydrogen peroxide as oxidant, while laccases rely on molecular oxygen. Both enzyme classes comprise specific advantages and disadvantages that are discussed in this chapter. Also, parameters to control the polymer properties are introduced and discusse