CrossRef enabled

PAC Archives

Contents index →

Adobe Acrobat Reader

Our PDF files are best viewed with Adobe Acrobat Reader 6 or higher.

Get Adobe Reader!

Pure Appl. Chem., 2005, Vol. 77, No. 1, pp. 339-344

doi:10.1351/pac200577010339

Biocatalytic approaches for synthesis of conducting polyaniline nanoparticles*

Ashok L. Cholli1,2,‡, M. Thiyagarajan1, Jayant Kumar1, and Virinder S. Parmar3

1Center for Advanced Materials, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA 01854, USA; 2Polnox Corporation, Lowell, MA 01854, USA; 3Bioorganic Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi, Delhi 110 007, India


Abstract: A biocatalytic approach has been developed to synthesize conducting polyaniline (PANI) nanoparticles. The method involves the formation of nanocomposites of PANI and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) by polymerizing aniline (AN)-camphorsulfonic acid (CSA) macromonomer (AN/CSA) using a biocatalyst in the presence of template PAA. The second step involves the separation of PANI polymers from PAA and CSA in the nanocomposites. The formation of PANI nanoparticles by this two-step approach is studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). High-resolution solution 13C NMR and UV/visible spectroscopic techniques have been used to characterize the formation of conducting PANI chains by the enzymatic method.

Keywords: biocatalysis; conduction polymer nanocomposites; enzymatic polymerization; polyaniline (PANI).