Chemical reaction at specific sites and reaction-induced self-assembly; Enzymatic polymerization of cellulose as a problem in open-nonequilibrium phenomena

Hashimoto, Takeji; Tanaka, Hirokazu*; Koizumi, Satoshi; Kurosaki, Kazuhiro*; Kobayashi, Shiro*

In this work we prepared separately two stable solutions A and B, as will be detailed below. Mixing the two solutions provides energy required for the enzymatic polymerization reaction and the reaction-induced self-assembly. In this sense our system is considered to belong to an open non-equilibrium system. We especially focus on self-assembling processes, mechanisms, and structures in mesoscopic scale, because they have not been well explored, despites its general importance for understanding pattern formation in nature, including biological systems.