Electrochemical polymerization in a biological communication material

Abstract

Living organisms have vast communication networks. When an organism is stimulated, information has to be transmitted by a signal messenger in order for the organism to respond to the stimulus in a biological community. N-(3-oxodecanoyl)-L-homoserine lactone (3-oxo-C12-HSL) is a messenger molecule; it is a quorum sensing (QS) material in bacteria colonies that induces apoptosis. In this study, a conductive polymer was successfully prepared using the crystal form of N-(3-oxodecanoyl)-L-homoserine lactone as a template by electrochemical polymerization and formation of composite. The realization of electrochemical polymerization in the crystal of a QS material to form polymer/QS material composite is significant in this research. 3-oxo-C12-HSL as a quorum sensing material behaves as crystal electrolyte in this experiment. This is the first example of electrochemical polymerization in the crystal structure of a QS material.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Apoptosis
• bio-composite
• conductive polymer
• crystal
• electrochemical polymerization
• gas sensor
• signal transduction

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Dr. Kohsuke Kawabata (presently Assistant Professor at Tohoku University, Takimiya Lab) for the synthesis of bis-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene. We thank Dr. Reiji Kumai for Synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements, which were carried out at the BL-8B line at the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK, Japan).

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), ERATO to Nobuhiko Nomura from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT) (Grant No. JPMJER1502).