Design rules for reciprocal coupling in chemically fueled assembly

Abstract

Chemical reaction cycles can regulate molecular self-assembly. Vice versa, self-assembly can regulate reaction rates. Here, we show design rules to tune such reciprocal coupling in dissipative self-assembly.

Suppressing catalyst poisoning in the carbodiimide-fueled reaction cycle

“…The carbodiimidefueled reaction cycle has gained widespread attention. It is frequently used to regulate the phase separation of complex coacervate-and oil-based droplets, [9][10][11][12] the formation of macrocycles, 7,13,14 the aggregation of nanoparticles, 15 the formation of vesicles and tubes, [16][17][18] the self-assembly of peptides into bers, 6,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] the crystallization of amino acids, 27 and the crosslinking of polymer networks. [28][29][30][31][32] More recently, the cycle was used to drive molecular motors and regulate molecular pumps, 5,33 and control DNA folding.…”