Novel Materials Based on Enzymatically Synthesized Amylose and Amylopectin

Oligo- and polysaccharides are important macromolecules in living systems, showing their multifunctional characteristics in the construction of cell walls, energy storage, cell recognition and their immune response. Starch, the most abundant storage reserve carbohydrate in plants, is composed of two types of alpha-glucan, amylose and amylopectin. The branched structure, high amount of functional groups, biocompatibility of starch architectures makes them suitable for applications in the biomedical field and in the food industry. The exact way of starch biosynthesis in plants is still not known today. Here we are using a tandem reaction of two enzymes to synthesize "artificial" starch or rather (hyper)branched amylose in vitro. One enzyme is responsible for building the linear (amylose) part while the other enzyme introduces the branches. With the described tandem reaction of two enzymes, we are currently synthesizing hybrid copolymeric materials bearing (hyper)branched polysaccharide structures. (C) 2008 American Chemical Society