8 Natural polymers—chemistry

Abstract

The interest in the development of synthetic methods for biopolymers has remained high. Increasingly complicated structures are needed as research tools in molecular and cell biology, which continuously pose new challenges for organic chemists. The subjects that have received special interest during the past couple of years include (i) derivatization of biopolymers with conjugate groups that provide them with a desired property, such as fluorescence emission, catalytic activity, metal ion binding, bioaffinity or resistance towards biodegradation, (ii) solid-supported synthesis of chimeric oligomers composed of structural units of more than one biopolymer, (iii) solid-supported synthesis of oligosaccharides, and (iv) preparation of solid-supported arrays of oligonucleotides and peptides. Biopolymers also show potential in supramolecular chemistry and nanotechnology, and the progress in these fields will undoubtedly be rapid in the near future. Parallel to these lines of development, scaling-up of biopolymer synthesis remains a topic of crucial importance, since a sufficient supply of material at a reasonable price is a prerequisite for many potential applications of biopolymers in chemotherapy and nanotechnology.