Project overview
We propose to create a molecular machine that will build new materials under software control. The output of the machine will be chains of building blocks linked by covalent bonds. The machine is modular and is designed to accept many different building blocks, from small molecules to nanoparticles, with a wide range of physical and chemical properties. In order to drive its development we will concentrate on using it to create two target products: a molecular wire, capable of transporting energy and electrical charge, and a catalyst. Software control starts with specification by the end-user of a sequence of building blocks. The target sequence is encoded in an instruction tape which can be read by the machine: the tape is itself a molecule, a synthetic DNA oligomer. The target sequence of building blocks is automatically converted into a control sequence of DNA bases, and the tape is produced by commercial solid-phase synthesis. The job of the machine is to read the instruction tape and to form the bonds between building blocks in the specified sequence. Every component of this molecular factory is itself a molecule: our ambition is to develop the system to the point where it could be distributed to end users as chemicals in plastic vials.
Staff
Lead researchers
Research outputs
Eugen Stulz,
2015, CHIMIA International Journal for Chemistry, 69(11), 678-683
Type: article
Ashleigh Griffith, Thomas J. Bandy, Mark Light & Eugen Stulz,
2013, Chemical Communications, 49(7), 731-733
DOI: 10.1039/c2cc37842f
Type: article
Phillip J. Milnes, Mireya L. McKee, Jonathan Bath, Lijiang Song, Eugen Stulz, Andrew J. Turberfield & Rachel K. O'Reilly,
2012, Chemical Communications, 48(45), 5614-5616
DOI: 10.1039/c2cc31975f
Type: article
Mireya L. McKee, Phillip J. Milnes, Jonathan Bath, Eugen Stulz, Rachel K. O’Reilly & Andrew J. Turberfield,
2012, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 134(3), 1446-1449
DOI: 10.1021/ja2101196
Type: article
Mireya L. McKee, Amanda C. Evans, Simon R. Gerrard, Rachel K. O'Reilly, Andrew J. Turberfield & Eugen Stulz,
2011, Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry, 9(5), 1661-1666
DOI: 10.1039/C0OB00753F
Type: article
Thomas J. Bandy, Ashley Brewer, Jonathan R. Burns, Gabriella Marth, ThaoNguyen Nguyen & Eugen Stulz,
2011, Chemical Society Reviews, 40(1), 138-148
DOI: 10.1039/b820255a
Type: article
Mireya L. McKee, Phillip J. Milnes, Jonathan Bath, Eugen Stulz, Andrew J. Turberfield & Rachel K. O'Reilly,
2010, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 49(43), 7948-7951
Type: article