ENZYMATIC POLYMERIZATION

Regio- and stereo-selective synthesis of polysaccharides and oligosaccharides has been achieved by enzymatic polymerization of glycosyl fluoride monomers. This methodology has successfully been applied to the first synthesis of cellulose via nonbiosynthetic pathway. The control of the relative direction of each glucan chain (parallel or antiparallel) has also been achieved in vitro for the first time and the authors have proposed this concept as ''allos-selectivity''. A novel type of enzymatic polymerization involving ring-opening of a monomer using lipase catalyst has been developed to produce polyesters. A variety of phenol and anilline derivatives have been polymerized by peroxidase catalyst to give polymers with novel structure.