Molten or solvent-free liquid proteins are a novel phase of biological matter produced by re-engineering the attractive intermolecular forces between protein molecules. Synthetically, our new methodology involves electrostatic coupling polymer surfactant chains to the solvent-accessible charged groups on the surface of the proteins. This new integrated approach is based on a universal strategy in which the same nanoscale building blocks can be used to produce functional protein-polymer surfactant nanohybrids with highly adaptable properties. Remarkably, these viscous highly concentrated protein biofluids retain their ability to fold reversibly, are dynamically equivalent to an aqueous protein, and directly solubilise and transform solid substrates.
“The method for preparing solvent-free protein melts is applicable to other related proteins — it is possible to prepare a range of biomimetic ferritins with functional metal cores, so this method could be extended to create a range of biologically derived nanostructures.”