Final Report Summary - MATRIX (Mixed-Matrix Interfaces for Enhanced Fine Chemicals Downstream Processing and Monitoring) The aim of MATRIX was to design selective and tuneable interfaces for sensors and separations using an innovative, cross-disciplinary approach. The aim of this proposal was to make use of the specificity of DNA-aptamers and the unique physico-chemical properties of ionic liquids in order to create mixed-matrix interfaces which exhibit properties that bulk materials can hardly achieve. The aim of MATRIX was to explore a modular concept of membranes which would allow combining elements that had previously and separately been optimized toward a specific aim, rather than achieve specificity by the overall design of new bulk materials.DNA-aptamers are molecular recognition elements that can be designed such as to undergo structural changes upon exposure to their cognate target. MATRIX explored this property by incorporating such DNA-Aptamers into adequate mesoporous matrices filled with cargo molecules. In presence of a molecular target, these DNA-based nanodevices triggered the release of the cargo molecules and could reversibly be closed again as soon as the target was removed. Such nanodevices have a tremendous potential for the targeted and controlled drug delivery, particularly because the stimulus for action are single molecules rather than changes in bulk properties.In the sense of a modular concept, MATRIX furthermore explored the possibility of using ionic liquids as alternative matrices for reversible DNA-aptamer function and molecular recognition on one hand, and their introduction into polymer matrices as selective and tuneable liquid phases on the other. The interaction of ionic liquids with DNA-aptamers was characterized and it could be shown that under defined conditions DNA-aptamers maintain their reversible recognition function even at high ionic liquid concentrations in aqueous solution. When integrating ionic liquids into polymer matrices as a selective liquid phase, it could be shown that the selectivity of the resulting polymer/ionic liquid blend membranes was entirely correlated with the physico-chemical properties of the ionic liquid while the mechanical stability and processability of the pristine polymer was fully maintained. Hence, as a principal outcome of MATRIX the modular concept of for creating tuneable and stimuli-responsive interfaces was entirely confirmed.
