Improving Protein-Polymer Block Copolymer Self-Assembly By Optimizing Depletion Force Interactions

Protein-based materials have become increasingly valuable due to their diverse substrate specificity, functionality, and high catalytic activity. Self-assembly of protein-polymer block copolymers enhances protein properties with stability, chemical diversity, and possibility of synthetic polymers. Self-assembled materials also offer a high degree of control over nanoscale orientation in a highly ordered and densely packed array, expanding the scope of protein-based technologies. However, the addition of depletants may promote attractive forces between collodial suspensions. This leads to an increase in depletant translational entropy that may overcome limitations in ordered particle assembly at dilute concentrations. To clarify the effect of depletion forces in order-disorder phase systems, the entropic contributions of molecular weight and relative content of large molecule depletants on the self-assembly of mCherry and carbonic anhydrase will be investigated.