1st Edition

Advances in the Engineering of Polysaccharide Materials by Phosphorylase-Catalyzed Enzymatic Chain-Elongation

By Jun-ichi Kadokawa, Yoshiro Kaneko Copyright 2012
    142 Pages 76 B/W Illustrations
    by Jenny Stanford Publishing

    Polysaccharides and their related compounds are attracting much attention because of their potential for the applications as new functional materials in many research field such as medicines, pharmaceutics, foods, and cosmetics. Therefore, precision synthesis of new polysaccharides with well-defined structure is being increasingly important. For this purpose, enzymatic method is a very powerful tool because the reaction proceeds with highly stereo- and regiocontrolled manners. This book focuses on advances in the practical synthesis of polysaccharides by the phosphorylase-catalyzed chain-elongation on the basis of the viewpoint of polysaccharide engineering.

    Introduction
    General Scope for Enzymatic Tools in Engineering of Polysaccharide Materials
    Phosphorylase-catalyzed enzymatic glycosylation
    Phosphorylase-catalyzed enzymatic polymerization
    Chemoenzymatic synthesis of amylose-grafted synthetic polymeric materials by phosphorylase catalysis
    Chemoenzymatic synthesis of amylose-grafting heteropolysaccharide materials by phosphorylase catalysis
    Preparation of nanostructured inclusion complexes in phosphorylase-catalyzed enzymatic polymerization ("Vine-twining polymerization")
    Applications and material preparations by means of vine-twining polymerization by phosphorylase catalysis
    Carbohydrate engineering by phosphorylase catalysis
    Preparation of amylose-based nanomaterials by phosphorylase catalysis

    Biography

    Jun-ichi Kadokawa is professor at Kagoshima University, Japan, since 2004. He received his PhD from Tohoku University, Japan, in 1992. Then he joined Yamagata University, Japan, as a research associate. From 1996 to 1997, he worked as a visiting scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Germany. Between 1999 and 2004, he was associate professor at Yamagata University and Tohoku University. Prof. Kadokawa is the recipient of the Award for Encouragement of Research in Polymer Science and the Cellulose Society of Japan Award.

    Yoshiro Kaneko received his doctor of engineering degree at Yamagata University in 2001. From 2001 to 2004, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Yamagata University and at the National Institute for Materials Science. From 2004 to 2010, he was an assistant professor at Kagoshima University. He has been working as an associate professor at Kagoshima University since 2010.

    "This book covers a wide range of knowledge from the authors’ vast experience in the enzymatic synthesis of polysaccharides. The authors treat with authority subjects such as vine-twining polymerization and amylose-based nanomaterials, which are certain to catch the imagination of polymer chemists of all ages. The text will serve as a useful reference for years to come."
    —Prof. Shin-ichiro Shoda, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

    "Saccharide synthesis has been one of the most difficult processes in terms of the stereo- and regio-selectivity control due to the complicated structure, and actually polysaccharides were not successfully synthesized. The in vitro synthesis of saccharides in the past two decades, however, was made possible by employing enzymes as the catalyst. Hydrolases and phosphorylases are typical enzymes. This book focuses on phosphorylase-catalyzed chain elongation via glycosylation to produce poly- and oligo-saccharides having amylose chains. With these methods, it is now possible to readily prepare various new functional polysaccharide materials."
    —Prof. Shiro Kobayashi, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Japan