CCS Chemistry

Open AccessCCS ChemistryRESEARCH ARTICLE1 Apr 2020Structural and Functional Tailoring of Melanin-Like Polydopamine Radical Scavengers Peng Yang†, Zhipeng Gu†, Fang Zhu and Yiwen Li Peng Yang† College of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065 (China) †P. Yang and Z. Gu contributed equally to this work.Google Scholar More articles by this author , Zhipeng Gu† College of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065 (China) †P. Yang and Z. Gu contributed equally to this work.Google Scholar More articles by this author , Fang Zhu College of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065 (China) Google Scholar More articles by this author and Yiwen Li *Corresponding author: E-mail Address: [email protected] College of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065 (China) Google Scholar More articles by this author https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.020.201900077 SectionsSupplemental MaterialAboutAbstractPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesTrack Citations ShareFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail Melanin is a ubiquitous but poorly understood polymeric, dark brown to black pigment biomaterial found both in nature and by organic synthesis. Its structural heterogeneity and disordered covalent/noncovalent interactions make it a grand challenge to tune and improve the physical and biological properties of both melanin sources. Herein, we report a facile one-pot fabrication approach for synthetic melanins with controlled size and composition via copolymerization of dopamine and basic amino acid such as arginine in an aqueous solution. The resulting arginine-doped polydopamine melanin-like nanoparticles possess less ordered nonplanar microstructures within the particles, whereas the conventional polydopamine-based melanins contain a vari...