Theory and Application of Polyelectrolyte Complexation

聚电解质络合理论与应用

• 批准号: 1404046
• 负责人: Jianzhong Wu
• 金额: $ 42.94万
• 依托单位: University of California-Riverside
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-05-01 至 2019-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1404046&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Theory; Application; Polyelectrolyte; Complexation

PI: Wu, Jianzhong Proposal Number: 1404046 Institution: University of California-Riverside Title: Theory and Application of Polyelectrolyte ComplexationThis proposal seeks to calculate the properties of polymeric electrolytes that are central to bio-medically relevant systems, such as drug delivery, gene knockout, and viral replication. The goal of the computations is to establish a new calculational procedure capable of predicting the atomistic structure, thermodynamic stability, and environmental responses of polyelectrolyte complexes under various aqueous conditions. In addition, the PI will seek to validate the calculations, not just by comparison to highly idealized experimental systems, but to actually predict the properties of such systems as polypeptide-polypeptide interactions, which cannot otherwise be accomplished with conventional computational methods. This is an ambitious proposal that can have a significant impact on the fundamental understanding (and therefore rational design) of biologically and bio-medically important molecular systems that can lead to the design of improved drug delivery systems and gene-based technologies.At present, most of existing studies are based on conventional polymer theories that ignore local density inhomogeneity, explicit solvent effects, and long-ranged intra-chain and electrostatic correlations. The simplistic representations of the polymeric systems are useful to establish the basic rules of complex formation as well as qualitative or occasionally semi-quantitative features of the phase behavior of bulk polyelectrolyte systems. But the low-resolution structure and bulk phase transitions predicted by mean-field methods are often insufficient to describe the structure-activity relationships desired for practical applications. Development of reliable computational tools to predict the interaction between oppositely charged polymers lags far behind practical applications. In order to address these deficiencies, this proposal will attempt to advance the understanding of polyelectrolyte formation via a theoretical approach built upon recent progress from the PI's group on high-throughput free-energy calculations within the framework of the classical density functional theory (DFT), which will be generalized for polymeric systems using a new perturbation method proposed in this work. The goal of this project is to establish a new computational procedure capable of predicting the atomistic structure, thermodynamic stability, and environmental responses of polyelectrolyte complexes in various aqueous conditions. In addition, the PI will seek to validate the theory, not just by comparison to highly idealized experimental systems, but to actually predict the properties of complex molecular systems, such as polypeptide-polypeptide interactions, that cannot otherwise be accomplished with conventional computational methods. The proposed work will also identify and examine the thermodynamics that affect the stability and delivery efficacy of siRNA (small interfering RNA), a type of RNA used for knock-down of specific genes.

主要研究者：吴建中提案编号：1404046机构：加州大学河滨分校题目：聚电解质络合的理论和应用本提案旨在计算聚合物电解质的性质，这些性质对生物医学相关系统至关重要，如药物输送、基因敲除和病毒复制。计算的目标是建立一个新的计算程序，能够预测的原子结构，热力学稳定性，以及在各种水溶液条件下的水溶性配合物的环境响应。此外，PI将寻求验证计算，不仅仅是通过与高度理想化的实验系统进行比较，而是实际预测这些系统的特性，如多肽-多肽相互作用，这是传统计算方法无法实现的。这是一个雄心勃勃的建议，可以对根本的理解产生重大影响。目前，现有的研究大多基于传统的聚合物理论，忽略了局部密度不均匀性，明确的溶剂效应，以及长程链内和静电相关性。聚合物体系的简化表示对于建立复合物形成的基本规则以及本体聚合物体系的相行为的定性或偶尔半定量特征是有用的。但平均场方法预测的低分辨率结构和体相转变往往不足以描述实际应用中所需的结构-活性关系。可靠的计算工具来预测带相反电荷的聚合物之间的相互作用的发展远远落后于实际应用。为了解决这些不足之处，这项建议将试图通过建立在最近的进展从PI的高通量自由能计算的经典密度泛函理论（DFT）的框架内，这将是广义的聚合物系统使用一种新的微扰方法在这项工作中提出的理论方法，以推进对微扰形成的理解。该项目的目标是建立一个新的计算程序，能够预测的原子结构，热力学稳定性，以及在各种水溶液条件下的水溶性复合物的环境响应。此外，PI将寻求验证理论，不仅通过与高度理想化的实验系统进行比较，而且实际预测复杂分子系统的特性，例如多肽-多肽相互作用，否则无法用传统的计算方法完成。拟议的工作还将确定和检查影响siRNA（小干扰RNA）稳定性和递送效力的热力学，siRNA是一种用于敲低特定基因的RNA。