Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DYNASSEMBLY (Dynamic control of assembly, directonnality and chirality in hydrogen bond networks.)
Reporting period: 2018-01-01 to 2019-12-31
By combining biology's information storage and replication strategies, namely specific hydrogen-bonding between nucleobases, with the potential for hydrogen-bond reorganisation in supramolecular systems, we propose to develop a new, artificial but bio-inspired mechanism for the transfer of information. We aimed to build molecular assemblies which spontaneously associate and fold in solution, forming intramolecular polarized hydrogen-bond networks. By addition of simple chemical additives forming competitive intermolecular hydrogen bonds with the foldamer, the directionality of these networks will be modified, transforming a conformational mixture to a well-defined unidirectional network. Molecular events such as reversible switching, chemical sensing, and long-distance information communication will be studied in 3D hydrogen bond networks, with to the overall objective of making highly functionalised, well-defined responsive macromolecular arrays ‘bottom-up’. Structures that give a non-spectroscopic 'readout' of the interaction with the additive will be built, which for example exhibit 'off-on' fluorescence or 'off-on' catalytic activity. The application of these foldamers in the construction of photochemically switchable molecular devices will be investigated. The work will contribute to the development of new nano-scale functionality that could impact on the way that medical devices or other interactive modules function at a molecular level.
The project started by building molecules that can interact and communicate in solution, with the aim of sending messages in the form of light-initiated acidity changes. Initial synthetic know-how was obtained that will facilitate future development of the area, and will ultimately be disseminated once downstream projects making use of the technology reach maturity.
New structures were built that will underpin future developments, but the short timescale of the project meant that advances were limited. Future impacts will become evident when these results are used to underpin further developments.