Transferases in Polymer Chemistry

Transferases are enzymes that catalyze reactions in which a group is transferred from one compound to another. This makes these enzymes ideal catalysts for polymerization reactions. In nature, transferases are responsible for the synthesis of many important natural macromolecules. In synthetic polymer chemistry, various transferases are used to synthesize polymers in vitro. This chapter reviews some of these approaches, such as the enzymatic polymerization of polyesters, polysaccharides, and polyisoprene.