Carbon Dioxide-Controlled Assembly of Water-Soluble Conjugated Polymers Catalyzed by Carbonic Anhydrase

The CO2-responsive and biocatalytic assembly based on conjugated polymers has been demonstrated by combining the signal amplification property of the polythiophene derivative (PTP) and the catalytic actions of carbonic anhydrase (CA). CO2 is applied as a new trigger mode to construct the smart assembly by controlling the electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions between the PTP molecules in aqueous solution, leading to the visible fluorescence changes. Importantly, the assembly transformation of PTP can be specifically and highly accelerated by CA based on the efficient catalytic activity of CA for the inter-conversion between CO2 and HCO3-, mimicking the CO2-associated biological processes that occurred naturally in living organisms. Moreover, the PTP-based assembly can be applied for biomimetic CO2 sequestration with fluorescence monitoring in the presence of CA and calcium.