Dynamically Adaptive Catalytic Capsules on Solid Supports

这位化学家对物质转化的探索得益于近年来的巨大进步，化学合成中的新方法和新技术正在加速出现。合成化学家工具箱中的大多数转化需要大量的能量、有机溶剂和保护基团的输入，这些基团充当化学掩膜胶带，实现其目的，然后被丢弃。由于生态和经济原因，减少所有这三种投入的数量将是有益的。生物系统在水中高效而经济地进行化学操作，使用酶的装配线将分子组装在一起。生物受体和催化剂与合成受体和催化剂的不同之处在于，它们的功能是通过进化的选择性压力而不是从第一原理设计而得到磨练的，这使得它们的功能可以以最聪明的设计师可能难以预测的方式进行调整。所有生物都见证了令人难以置信的化学和系统复杂性，这种复杂性可以通过自然选择的盲目设计实现。该项目的目标是创造一种新型的分子容器，能够进化出以高亲和力结合不同的客人。这种适应将用于创造特定于客户的传感器和类似酶的催化剂，因为笼子是量身定做的，以降低特定反应的激活能。快速制造针对不同反应的设计催化剂的能力，再加上在水中操作的能力，可能使这些催化胶囊作为绿色纳米反应器在工业上有用。将模板胶囊固定在固体支撑物上将允许创建流动反应器(纳米装配线)和针对特定底物和分析物量身定做的传感器。

The chemist's quest to transform matter has benefitted from tremendous advances in recent years, with new methods and techniques in chemical synthesis appearing at an accelerating pace. The majority of transformations in the synthetic chemist's toolbox require large inputs of energy, organic solvents, and protecting groups that serve as chemical masking tape, fulfilling their purpose and then being discarded. It would be of benefit to reduce the amounts of all three inputs for both ecological and economic reasons.Biological systems carry out chemistry in water efficiently and economically, using assembly lines of enzymes to piece molecules together. Biological receptors and catalysts differ from synthetic versions in that their functions have been honed through the selective pressures of evolution as opposed to design from first principles, allowing their function to be tuned in ways that the cleverest designer might find hard to predict. All living matter bears witness to the incredible chemical and systemic complexity that can be achieved through the 'blind' design of natural selection.The goal of this project is to create a new class of molecular containers capable of evolving to bind different guests with high affinity. This adaptation will find use in the creation of guest-specific sensors and enzyme-like catalysts, as cages are tailor-made to lower the activation energy for specific reactions. The ability to quickly make designer catalysts for different reactions, coupled with the ability to operate in water, could render these catalytic capsules industrially useful as green nano-reactors. Immobilisation of templated capsules on solid supports will allow for the creation of flow reactors (nano assembly lines) and sensors tailored to specific substrates and analytes.