Amal Narayanan

Princeton University | PU · Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Probing volume phase transition behavior of super-diluted polymer solutions both micro- and macroscopically still persist as an outstanding challenge. In this regard, we have explored 4x4 spectral Mueller matrix measurement and its inverse analysis for excavating the micro-architectural facts about stimuli responsiveness of 'smart' polymers. Phase...

Effects of counterions on the solubility of side chain amino acid based polyelectrolytes (PEs) in aqueous medium, pH responsiveness, thermal properties and ionic conductivities have been appraised. Deprotection of tert-butyl carbamate (Boc) group from poly(Boc-L-leucine methacryloyloxyethyl ester) (P(Boc-L-Leu-HEMA)) was carried out to produce PE w...

To prepare chiral nanostructures coated with bioactive molecules, a side-chain amino acid containing macromolecular chain transfer agent (macroCTA), poly(Boc-L-alanine methacryloyloxyethyl ester) (PBLAEMA) has been used as steric stabilizer for reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) mediated dispersion polymerization of benzyl meth...

Polyelectrolytes (PEs) are polymers with ionizable repeating units along the polymer chain. Framing electrochemical membrane, electroactive devices, microwave-absorbing material with polyelectrolytes of high ionic conductivity is at state of the art. Keeping poly(NH3+-L-leucine methacryloyloxyethyl ester) cation, we varied the associative counteran...

The permeability of polyimide-polyacrylic acid (PI-PAAc) pH-responsive membrane fabricated using a 248 nm KrF laser was investigated. These membranes were further immobilized with glucose oxidase enzyme, which led to the successful development of a glucose-responsive membrane. The base PI membranes were developed using a simple photolithographic te...

Water and adhesives have a conflicting relationship as demonstrated by the failure of most man-made adhesives in underwater environments. However, living creatures routinely adhere to substrates underwater. For example, sandcastle worms create protective reefs underwater by secreting a cocktail of protein glue that binds mineral particles together,...

To stop blood loss and accelerate wound healing, conventional wound closure techniques such as sutures and staples are currently used in the clinic. These tissue-piercing wound closure techniques have several disadvantages such as the potential for causing inflammation, infections, and scar formation. Surgical sealants and tissue adhesives can addr...

Inspired from the one-component self-coacervation of tropoelastin and mussel foot protein-3s, we created the first non-ionic, single component coacervates that can coacervate in a all ranges of pH (acidic to basic) and wide range of ionic strengths with degradability, rapid curing and strong underwater adhesion. In contrast to the complex coacervat...

Three-dimensional (3D) printing allows for creation of patient-specific implants. However, development of new synthetic materials for 3D printing has been relatively slow with only a few polymers available for tissue engineering applications. Most of these polymers require harsh processing conditions like high temperatures and pressures or are mixe...

Clinically used bio-based tissue sealants bring in the risk of animal borne infections, non-degradability, allergic reactions, tissue compression, tissue necrosis, and poor wet adhesion. Motivated by these unsatisfactory properties of existing tissue sealants, herein, we designed a library of solvent- and initiator- free hydrophobic mussel-inspired...

Poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) is a widely used biomaterial, but the long degradation time and hydrophobicity limit its applications in instances where short-term usage is needed. Synthesis of PCL analogues is an active area of research, but is constrained by the detailed and stringent synthetic procedures involved in the synthesis and polymerization o...

We report the design of a series of polyesters containing pendant secondary amide groups to probe the cumulative effects of hydrogen bonding and chain flexibility on their thermal, mechanical, and rheological properties. Reported studies on polymers with secondary amide groups have usually focused on the effect of hydrogen bonding interactions on t...

Marine organisms such as mussels have mastered the challenges in underwater adhesion by incorporating post-translationally modified amino acids like l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) in adhesive proteins. Here we designed a catechol containing elastomer adhesive to identify the role of catechol in interfacial adhesion in both dry and wet conditio...

Recognizing the potential for synthetic adhesives that can function in wet environments, elements of mussel foot proteins such as L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) and phosphoserine have been incorporated into synthetic adhesives. Such adhesives have corroborated the advantage of surface active groups like DOPA, but have not yet demonstrated supe...

Carbon dioxide (CO2)-responsive polymers have been gaining considerable interest because of their reactions with CO2, giving rise to gas-switchable properties, which can easily be reversed by mild heating or purging with inert gases. Herein, the synthesis of a series of side-chain amino acids (alanine, leucine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, tryptophan...