Synthetic and natural polyampholytes: Structural and behavioral similarity

Abstract

The ability of synthetic polyampholytes to adopt globular, coil, helix, and stretched conformations and to exhibit coil–globule, helix–coil, liquid–liquid, sol–gel phase transitions with respect to internal (structure, composition, charge distribution, hydrophobicity, hydrophilicity, and so forth) and external factors (pH, temperature, ionic strength, thermodynamic quality of solvents, and so forth) is very important in duplicating the structural hierarchy of proteins. In this review, the structural and behavioral similarities between synthetic and natural polymers are analyzed, primarily concentrating on synthetic polyampholytes, amphoteric polypeptides, and intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) in order to demonstrate the close relationship. The application aspects of polyampholytes and future opportunities are briefly outlined.