Glucose oxidase initiates radical polymerisations by direct electron transfer to monomers

Ornati, Eleonora and Ushakova, Iuliia and Bruns, Nico (2025) Glucose oxidase initiates radical polymerisations by direct electron transfer to monomers. Biomacromolecules, 26 (10). pp. 7038-7050. ISSN 1525-7797 (https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.5c01372)

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Abstract

Glucose oxidase (GOx) is a widely used and studied enzyme, yet it continues to surprise with previously unknown activities. We report GOx to initiate radical polymerizations of acrylamides and methacrylates without the need for initiators or irradiation by light, simply by carrying out the polymerizations in the absence of oxygen at high glucose concentrations. The enzyme oxidizes glucose and concomitantly transfers an electron and a proton to a monomer, thereby creating a radical species that starts the polymerization. Computational docking studies revealed specific orientations of monomers in the enzyme's active site. GOx's ability to deoxygenate solutions was combined with its initiation activity to achieve polymerizations in nondeoxygenated conditions, allowing polymerizations in a 96-well plate format, and a fluorescence assay was developed to screen the enzyme's polymerization activity. GOx's polymerization activity opens the route to polymer synthesis under mild and biological relevant conditions and allows integration of GOx-catalyzed radical polymerizations into biosensors as well as living and synthetic cells.

ORCID iDs

Bruns, Nico ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6199-9995

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• Item metadata

  Item type:	Article
  ID code:	94177
  Dates:	Date Event 13 October 2025 Published 24 September 2025 Published Online 25 August 2025 Accepted
  Subjects:	Science > Chemistry
  Department:	Faculty of Science > Pure and Applied Chemistry
  Depositing user:	Pure Administrator
  Date deposited:	16 Sep 2025 07:59
  Last modified:	09 Aug 2026 00:49
  URI:	https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/94177