Project description
Harnessing nature’s energy currencies in supramolecular dissipative self-assembly
The formation of new molecules in biological systems requires an energy input. This so-called dissipative self-assembly leads to structures inaccessible in equilibrium conditions. Phosphate-based biochemical fuels, such as adenosine triphosphate, provide energy for these processes by incorporating chemical information in their fuel structure. Leveraging phosphates and phosphate esters to drive automated synthesis of supramolecular structures in chemistry has rarely been studied. The ERC-funded PhosphotoSupraChem aims to address this knowledge gap. The team plans to study phosphate fuels, including their structures and activities relevant to dissipative self-assembly. Candidate fuels, with both structural and recognition elements and specific functionalities, will be used in automated synthesis for the discovery of materials for microfluidics.
Objective
Phosphates and phosphate esters underpin biological information transfer, signal transduction, and contribute to the energetics of life. Biochemical fuels that include phosphates (ATP, GTP) drive selective processes, by incorporating chemical information (A vs. G) in their fuel structure. Despite the multifaceted role of phosphates in biology, their use in supramolecular systems chemistry remains largely underexplored.
PhosphotoSupraChem develops roles for phosphates outside of biology and capitalizes on the idea of providing chemical information within abiotic phosphate fuels to control selectivity and reactivity in the context of fuel-driven structure formation. The information is provided by chemical functionalization of energy-rich phosphate fuels, whereby the information encode structural assembly of fuels prior to their consumption, or transfer large chemical groups onto self-assembling species during energy transfer. Specific aims are:
(i) Understand the chemical design space for phosphate fuel self-assembly and how such structures control selectivity and reactivity when transferring the energy for the formation of transient assemblies;
(ii) Construct fuels, capable of transferring structural information, enabling folding and chimeric dissipative self-assembly;
(iii) Promote waste-driven fuel formation, substrate release and peptide bond formation
(v) Involve fuels in automated synthesis for microfluidics materials discovery
PhosphotoSupraChem pioneers an unexplored area of science at the roots of dissipative systems and phosphate-driven systems chemistry. This strategy profoundly contrasts the present non-equilibrium self-assembly research featuring fuelling with molecules that lack structural and recognition elements. In the long term, fabricating biocompatible dissipative systems and developing automated platforms that guide fuels to specific functions will be a decisive step toward creating dynamic assemblies in vivo and programming active soft matter.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences physical sciences classical mechanics fluid mechanics microfluidics
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) ERC-2023-STG
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79098 Freiburg
Germany
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