Life-like Supramolecular Materials based on Reaction Cycles with Designed Feedback

Informazioni relative al progetto

Life-Cycle

ID dell’accordo di sovvenzione: 757910

DOI

10.3030/757910

Progetto chiuso

Data della firma CE 21 Novembre 2017

Data di avvio 1 Gennaio 2018

Data di completamento 31 Marzo 2023

Finanziato da

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Costo totale

€ 1 762 488,00

Contributo UE

€ 1 762 488,00

Coordinato da

CENTRE INTERNATIONAL DE RECHERCHE AUX FRONTIERES DE LA CHIMIE FONDATION
France

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - Life-Cycle (Life-like Supramolecular Materials based on Reaction Cycles with Designed Feedback)

Periodo di rendicontazione: 2022-07-01 al 2023-03-31

Sintesi del contesto e degli obiettivi generali del progetto

The “Life-Cycle” ERC proposal aims to develop a new class of artificial supramolecular materials that are kept in sustained non-equilibrium states by continuous dissipation of chemical fuels. Said more simply, we aim to develop artificial materials that have an internal metabolism, materials that need “food” (or as we call it “chemical fuel”), and excrete waste. Supramolecular polymers in current artificial materials stick together through weak reversible bonds that can be exchange by thermal energy. In contrast, natural supramolecular polymers such as those in the cytoskeletal network use chemical fuels such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to achieve an incredible adaptivity, motility, growth, and response to external inputs. Development of chemically fueled artificial supramolecular polymers should therefore lead to more life-like materials that could perform functions so far reserved only for living beings. In the long term, we hope our life-like materials can engage in two-way communication with living beings or tissues, and result in improvements in (regenerative) medicine and in materials science in general.

Lavoro eseguito dall’inizio del progetto fino alla fine del periodo coperto dalla relazione e principali risultati finora ottenuti

We have developed 4 different reaction cycles that can control self-assembling systems. Two of these cycles have given rise to oscillations, which are often found in biological systems, such as in microtubules. Another cycle gave rise to a new material, which has a time programmable life-time of disappearance. That is, depending on the amount of chemical fuels added to the material, it will disassemble for a well-defined time, and then reassemble again. The latest general of such complex material is one that undergoes several transitions between a free-flowing liquid and a gel. Specifically, a sol-->gel-->sol-->gel-->sol system was developed that can operate without intervention by a scientist or without any external control (like a computer or control-board).

Progressi oltre lo stato dell’arte e potenziale impatto previsto (incluso l’impatto socioeconomico e le implicazioni sociali più ampie del progetto fino ad ora)

Our current focus is on life-like materials that have an internal mechanism to produce their own fuels and recycle the waste they produce, in order to stay away from the thermodynamic equilibrium (that is “death”) for extended periods of time. The materials properties of such life-like artificial systems are virtually unexplored. In addition, we have developed a comprehensive mathematical framework to describe chemically fueled materials that can be used to design a future generation of complex autonomous materials.

self-assembled system depending on the consumption of a chemical fuel