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UC Berkeley Creates Synthetic Polymers for Sustainable Catalysis

1/2/2026

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Summary

Story summary

UC Berkeley researchers led by Professor Ting Xu developed synthetic random heteropolymers that mimic enzyme functions.
They programmed sidechain distributions within the polymer backbone to achieve enzyme-like activity without replicating natural protein structures.
The approach enables scalable production and enhanced stability for synthetic random heteropolymers (RHPs), which makes them suitable for industrial applications and environmental remediation.
The findings were published in Nature and underscore the potential of these materials to address challenges in sustainability and catalysis.

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Story summary

UC Berkeley researchers led by Professor Ting Xu developed synthetic random heteropolymers that mimic enzyme functions.
They programmed sidechain distributions within the polymer backbone to achieve enzyme-like activity without replicating natural protein structures.
The approach enables scalable production and enhanced stability for synthetic random heteropolymers (RHPs), which makes them suitable for industrial applications and environmental remediation.
The findings were published in Nature and underscore the potential of these materials to address challenges in sustainability and catalysis.