Shapeshifting Molecules

不同的原子序列使分子具有不同的形状。这种形状是分子特性的关键，例如，它在结合蛋白质时的生物效应。通常，分子的原子顺序是固定的。然而，这项提议研究的是打破这一教条的分子。“变形”分子会调整自己的原子序列，以适应周围环境。在这个早期职业奖学金期间，我和项目团队将建立控制变形分子的方法。我们将率先将其应用于催化、药物和塑料。我们期待发现一些罕见的特性，比如由分子网络制成的塑料，它们可以自发地缠结和解结，使它们具有独特的强度和柔韧性。我们还将回答关于变形分子在与其他分子相互作用时如何适应的开放性问题，量化其结构的变化。这些知识将使我们能够制造变形分子，这些分子可以塑造自己，以匹配与疾病有关的复杂生物靶标。在拨款结束时，我们将展示变形分子与传统材料的不同之处。我们还将展示它们在生物学和软材料中许多可能的应用中的第一个。这些基本的化学进展建立了一个新的研究领域，将对生物化学、材料物理和工程产生广泛的影响。

Different sequences of atoms give molecules with distinct shapes. This shape is key to a molecule's properties, e.g., its biological effect when binding proteins. Conventionally, the atomic sequence of a molecule is fixed. This proposal, however, investigates molecules that break free from this dogma. 'Shapeshifting' molecules adapt their atomic sequences to match their surroundings.During this Early Career Fellowship, the project team and I will establish methods to control shapeshifting molecules. We will pioneer their applications in catalysis, drugs, and plastics. We expect to discover rare properties, such as plastics made from molecular networks that spontaneously tangle and untangle, making them uniquely strong and flexible. We will also answer open questions about how shapeshifting molecules adapt when they interact with other molecules, quantifying changes in their structures. This knowledge will allow us to make shapeshifting molecules that mould themselves to match complex biological targets implicated in disease.By the end of the grant, we will have shown how shapeshifting molecules differ from conventional materials. We will have also demonstrated the first of their many possible applications in biology and soft materials. These fundamental, chemical advances establish a new research area that will have broad impacts in biochemistry, materials physics and engineering.