Designing artificial enzymes from scratch: Experimental study and mesoscale simulation

We present a new concept for designing biomimetic analogs of enzymatic proteins; these analogs are based on the synthetic protein-like copolymers. alpha-Chymotrypsin is used as a prototype of the artificial catalyst. Our experimental study shows that in the course of free radical copolymerization of hydrophobic and hydrophilic monomers the target globular nanostructures of a core-shell morphology appear in a selective solvent. Using a mesoscale computer simulation, we show that the protein-like globules can have a large number of catalytic centers located at the hydrophobic core/hydrophilic shell interface. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.