Conjugates of stimuli-responsive polymers and biomolecules: Random and site-specific conjugates of temperature-sensitive polymers and proteins

Intelligent polymers exhibit sharp, reversible phase changes in response to small changes in environmental conditions. For example, a small temperature change can cause a sharp precipitation or gelation of a smart polymer solution. Conjugation of these unusual polymers to biomolecules such as enzymes, ligands, lipids, and drugs can lead to many new and exciting applications in medicine and biotechnology. (1-4) This presentation reviews the principles, methodolgies and applications of these ''smart'' polymer-biomolecule systems, with special focus on temperature-sensitive polymer-protein conjugates.