During the reporting protocol three main objectives were achieved. First objective was to design and prepare molecules that are capable of storing information in form of sequence of recognition sites. In other words, the goal was to obtain molecules that will complement natural counterparts, namely the DNA, in apolar media. For that matter, melamine core was used as backbone, due to stability and robustness of the chemistry used to obtain it. Hence, information oligomers were obtained in high yields. Second objective was to test molecular recognition between complementary strands. By synthesizing all sequences of dimer and trimer information oligomers, as part of first objective, interactions of complementary strands were measured. The results show that there is cooperative binding between complementary strands. Cooperativity is evident in both different lengths of oligomers, as well as different complementary sequences. From performed experiments it was evident that duplex between complementary recognition sequences was achieved with high stability and in cooperative manner. Also, intramolecular hydrogen bonding was not observed, which is crucial for formation and stability of duplexes. Furthermore, imperfections in duplex formation were explored by investigating duplex formation by non-complementary sequences. It is evident that non-complementary sequences form less stable duplexes than complementary ones, which indicates high fidelity in recognition and reading of information by complementary sequence. Experiments showing that tempting by can be achieved in tetramer templated oligomerisation, indicating that copying of information in prepared systems is possible.
Overall, all objectives were achieved. Completely artificial system, that stores information as sequence of recognition sites was obtained. Reliability of forming duplexes with complementary strands, was measured. Also imperfections due to recognition on non-complementary strands were explored. In total, artificial system that is capable of storing, reading and copying sequence information is developed. This system shows great promises as scaffold for obtaining new smart materials with capabile of memory storage, self healing, and evolving properties.
Obtained results were presented at international conferences, and symposium, either as oral or poster presentations. The overview and results of the project are visible on supplied web address, and are publicly available to any interested reader. Initial results of the project were presented at Open Days in the Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, to high school, undergraduate, and master students, as well as PhD candidates. Results of the project, were presented at international conferences in Switzerland, UK, and USA, to scientific community as invited oral and/or poster presentations.
