Chemical Reaction at Specific Sites and Reaction-Induced Self-Assembly as Observed by in Situ and Real Time SANS:Enzymatic Polymerization to Synthetic Cellulose

摘要

We have investigated the self-assembling process of cellulose artificially synthesized via enzymatic polymerization by means of in situ and time-resolved SANS (small-angle neutron scattering).The results elucidated the following:(i) Cellulose molecules synthesized at a special reaction site of the enzyme (cellulase) located on or near the smooth surface of self-assembled enzymes formed in the reaction medium.(ii) The synthesized molecules associated themselves via DLA (diffusion-limited association) and crystallized into fibrils.(iii) The fibrils formed the aggregates,which had surface fractal dimension D_s increasing from 2 to 2.3 with the reaction time,on the smooth surface of the enzyme aggregates.