Chemical Reaction at Specific Sites and Reaction-induced Self-assembly As Observed by in Situ and Real Time SANS: Enzymatic Polymerization to Synthetic Cellulose

We have investigated the self-assembling process of cellulose artificially synthesized via enzymatic polymerization by means of in situ and time-resolved SANS (small-angle neutron scattering). The results elucidated the following: (i) Cellulose molecules synthesized at a special reaction site of the enzyme (cellulase) located on or near the smooth surface of self-assembled enzymes formed in the reaction medium. (ii) The synthesized molecules associated themselves via DLA (diffusion-limited association) and crystallized into fibrils. (iii) The fibrils formed the aggregates, which had surface fractal dimension D(s) increasing from 2 to 2.3 with the reaction time, on the smooth surface of the enzyme aggregates.