Kousuke Tsuchiya

Spectral multitude and spectral dynamics reflect changing conjugation length in single molecules of oligophenylenevinylenes

Single-molecule study of phenylenevinylene oligomers revealed distinct spectral forms due to different conjugation lengths which are determined by torsional defects. Large spectral jumps between different spectral forms were ascribed to torsional flips of a single phenylene ring. These spectral changes reflect the dynamic nature of electron delocalization in oligophenylenevinylenes and enable estimation of the phenylene torsional barriers.

Materials for future lithography

The demands for high resolution and issues of line edge roughness require a reconsideration of current resist design strategies. In particular, EUV lithography will provide an opportunity to examine new resist concepts including new elemental compositions and low molar mass resists or molecular resists. In the former case, resist compositions incorporating elements such as silicon and boron have been explored for EUV resists and will be described. In an example of the latter case, molecular glass resists have been designed using synthetic architectures in globular and core-arm forms ranging from one to multiple arms. Moreover, our studies include a series of ring and irregularly shaped small molecules modified to give imaging performance. These materials have been explored to improve line edge roughness (LER) compared to common polymer resists. Several examples of polymeric and molecular glass resists will be described. Several compositions showed high glass transition temperatures (Tg) of ~ 120°C and possessed no crystallinity as seen from XRD studies. Negative-tone molecular glass resists with a T-shaped phenolic core structure, 4-[4-[1,1-Bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethyl]]-α,α-dimethylbenzylphenol, have demonstrated feature sizes as small as 50mn. Similarly, negative-tone images made using spiro-based compounds showed feature size as small as 60nm in lines/space patterns using e-beam lithography. Most recently we have demonstrated that fully and partially tert-butoxycarbonyl (t-Boc) protected calix[4]resorcinarene derivatives can be successfully studied as a positive-tone resist using EUV and E-beam lithography. Resolution as low as 35nm was obtained by EUV exposure.

The Benzyl Ester Group of Amino Acid Monomers Enhances Substrate Affinity and Broadens the Substrate Specificity of the Enzyme Catalyst in Chemoenzymatic Copolymerization

The chemoenzymatic polymerization of amino acid monomers by proteases involves a two-step reaction: the formation of a covalent acyl-intermediate complex between the protease and the carboxyl ester group of the monomer and the subsequent deacylation of the complex by aminolysis to form a peptide bond. Although the initiation with the ester group of the monomer is an important step, the influence of the ester group on the polymerization has not been studied in detail. Herein, we studied the effect of the ester groups (methyl, ethyl, benzyl, and tert-butyl esters) of alanine and glycine on the synthesis of peptides using papain as the catalyst. Alanine and glycine were selected as monomers because of their substantially different affinities toward papain. The efficiency of the polymerization of alanine and glycine benzyl esters was much greater than that of the other esters. The benzyl ester group therefore allowed papain to equally polymerize alanine and glycine, even though the affinity of alanine toward papain is substantially higher. The characterization of the copolymers of alanine and glycine in terms of the secondary structure and thermal properties revealed that the thermal stability of the peptides depends on the amino acid composition and resultant secondary structure. The current results indicate that the nature of the ester group drastically affects the polymerization efficiency and broadens the substrate specificity of the protease.

Papain-Catalyzed Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of Telechelic Polypeptides Using Bis(Leucine Ethyl Ester) Initiator

In order to construct unique polypeptide architectures, a novel telechelic-type initiator with two leucine ethyl ester units is designed for chemoenzymatic polymerization. Glycine or alanine ethyl ester is chemoenzymatically polymerized using papain in the presence of the initiator, and the propagation occurs at each leucine ethyl ester unit to produce the telechelic polypeptide. The formation of the telechelic polypeptides is confirmed by (1) H NMR and MALDI-TOF mass spectroscopies. It is revealed by AFM observation that long nanofibrils are formed from the telechelic polyalanine, whereas a conventional linear polyalanine with a similar degree of polymerization shows granule-like structures. The telechelic polyglycine and polyalanine show the crystalline structures of Polyglycine II and antiparallel β-sheet, respectively. It is demonstrated that this method to synthesize telechelic-type polypeptides potentially opens up a pathway to construct novel hierarchical structures by self-assembly.

Synthesis of diblock copolymers consisting of POSS-containing random methacrylate copolymers and polystyrene and their cross-linked microphase-separated structure via fluoride ion-mediated cage scrambling

Synthesis of a series of diblock copolymers consisting of POSS-containing random methacrylate copolymers and polystyrene (P(MAPOSS-r-methyl methacrylate)-b-polystyrene etc.) has been established by reversible addition–fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerisation. The polymerisation of styrene as the second block was well controlled when POSS-containing random copolymers were used as the chain transfer agent (CTA). Dynamic cross-linking of POSS-containing block copolymers, which utilized a cage scrambling reaction among pendant POSS units mediated by a fluoride ion, was achieved by evaporating the solvent from a solution of block copolymers tetrabutylammonium fluoride (TBAF) and 1,4-bis(triethoxysilyl)benzene (BTSB) in THF. During the solvent evaporation and thermal annealing that provided cross-linked polymer films, a phase-separated structure was formed. The microphase-separated structure of the cross-linked block copolymers showed the cylindrical morphology of the POSS-containing blocks, which was proved by small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations. A clear microphase-separated structure was obtained when a larger amount of fluoride ions was used for cage scrambling. The morphology was maintained even after immersing in tetrahydrofuran, indicating that the phase-separated structure was completely immobilized by cross-linking.

Tensile reinforcement of silk films by the addition of telechelic-type polyalanine.

An appropriate modification technique for silk materials is needed to effectively improve their physical properties for specific applications. A telechelic-type polyalanine (T-polyA) was synthesized by papain-catalyzed polymerization as a novel reinforcing agent for silk materials. A silk fibroin obtained from Bombyx mori was homogeneously doped with T-polyA, and casting a solution of silk fibroin and T-polyA in 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP) resulted in a robust and transparent film. Tensile deformation studies of the silk composite film containing T-polyA with prestretching revealed that the tensile strength and toughness were enhanced relative to those of a silk-only film. To determine the capability of T-polyA to reinforce the tensile property of silk films, the secondary structure in the silk composite film was characterized by wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) analysis. Antiparallel β-sheet structures of T-polyA and GAGAGS motifs of silk fibroin formed independently in the prestretched composite film. In addition, measuring the tensile deformation and performing WAXD analysis simultaneously demonstrated that the β-sheet structures of both T-polyA and the silk fibroin were aligned along the stretching direction and that T-polyA had no significant effect on the final morphology of the silk crystal domains. The silk film was toughened by the addition of T-polyA because of the generation of the T-polyA β-sheet in the amorphous region of the composite film. This work provides novel insight into the design and development of tough silk materials with controlled and aligned β-sheet structures.

Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of Polypeptides for Use as Functional and Structural Materials

Polypeptides inspired by the natural functional and structural proteins present in living systems are promising materials for various fields in terms of their versatile functionality and physical properties. Designing and synthesizing mimetic sequences of specific peptide motifs in proteins are important for exploring the functionality of natural proteins. Chemoenzymatic polymerization, which utilizes aminolysis (i.e., the reverse reaction of hydrolysis catalyzed by proteases), is a useful technique for synthesizing artificial polypeptide materials and has several advantages, including facile synthesis protocols, environmental friendliness, scalability, and atom economy. In this review, recent progress in chemoenzymatic polypeptide synthesis for the production of functional and structural materials for various applications is summarized in conjunction with the current status of technical challenges in the field.

Chemoenzymatic modification of silk fibroin with poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,5-phenylene ether) using horseradish peroxidase

Chemical modification of silk materials is a powerful method for tailoring the desired physical properties for possible application in various fields. In this work, we modified silk fibroin with poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,5-phenylene ether) (PPE) in order to imbue the silks with hydrophobicity so as to resist the absorption of humidity. This modification was achieved by chemoenzymatic polymerization of 2,6-dimethylphenol (DMP) using horseradish peroxidase (HRP) as a catalyst in the presence of silk fibroin obtained from Bombyx mori. The PPE chain content in the modified silk was tuned by varying the feed concentration of DMP. Wide-angle X-ray scattering measurements revealed that β-sheet crystalline structures were formed in the PPE-modified silk, even after the introduction of bulky PPE chains. The PPE-modified silk showed glass transitions derived from the PPE domains, which enabled the formation of self-standing films upon thermal processing. Films of the PPE-modified silk exhibited higher static contact angles of water droplets compared to the native silk films, indicating that the film surface of silk fibroin became more hydrophobic due to the introduction of PPE. These improved physical properties were achieved without sacrificing the inherent secondary structure of silk fibroin, namely, the β-sheet structure that is largely responsible for the mechanical properties of silk materials.

Chemoenzymatic synthesis of polypeptides consisting of periodic di- and tri-peptide motifs similar to elastin

Proline and valine exist in repetitive motifs in various structural proteins and play an important role in their physiological functions. Herein, we synthesized polypeptides that consist of di- and tri-peptide motifs containing proline and valine via chemoenzymatic polymerization. Di- and tri-peptide ethyl esters (ValGly-OEt, GlyProGly-OEt, and ValProGly-OEt) could be polymerized by papain, whereas proline and valine ethyl esters (Pro-OEt, Val-OEt) were inactive in chemoenzymatic polymerization because of their poor affinity for papain. The copolymer of ValProGly-OEt and ValGly-OEt being poly(ValProGly-co-ValGly), which is composed of a repetitive sequence of elastin, exhibited a temperature-dependent structural transition similar to tropoelastin. The post-polycondensation product of poly(ValProGly-co-ValGly) showed higher molecular weight and elastin-like thermal behaviors.

Spider dragline silk composite films doped with linear and telechelic polyalanine: Effect of polyalanine on the structure and mechanical properties

Spider dragline silks have attracted intensive attention as eco-friendly tough materials because of their excellent mechanical property and biomass-based origin. Composite films based on a recombinant spider dragline silk protein (ADF3) from Araneus diadematus were prepared by doping with linear or telechelic poly(l-alanine) (L- or T-polyA, respectively) as a reinforcing agent. Higher tensile strength and toughness of the composite films were achieved with the addition of polyA compared with the tensile strength and toughness of the silk-only film. The difference in the reinforcing behavior between L- and T-polyA was associated with their primary structures, which were revealed by wide angle X-ray diffraction analysis. L-polyA showed a tendency to aggregate in the composite films and induce crystallization of the inherent silk β-sheet to afford rigid but brittle films. By contrast, T-polyA dispersion in the composite films led to the formation of β-sheet crystal of both T-polyA and the inherent silk, which imparted high strength and toughness to the silk films.