Synthesis and Sequencing of Abiotic Polymers, Information Encoding and Sequence Selective Hybridization

The development and implementation of the organic chemistry necessary for sequencing abiotic polymers sets a new paradigm for supramolecular chemistry and information encoding, as well as molecular logic gates. We have devised the first use of oligourethanes for storing and reading encoded information. As a proof of principle, an approach will be described using a text passage from Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park. It was encoded in oligourethanes and reconstructed via chain-end degradation sequencing. The passage was capable of being reproduced wholly intact by a third-party, without any purifications or the use of MS/MS, despite multiple rounds of compression, encoding, and synthesis. Further, we have used mass-tags on the oligourethanes to sort mixtures and keep track of simultaneous sequencing, and we have generated novel electrochemical methods for sequencing. Lastly, using  activity-based sensing as an inspiration, we have created a method for recall of only certain information strands,analogous to random access memory.

The information of life on planet earth is encoded in nucleic acids, that can replicate in a biological setting or in a laboratory using PCR. This ability to pass sequence information from one generation to the next is an inspiration for the creation of abiotic sequence-selective replicators. In an NSF-funded CCI called CARMA (Creation of Abiotic Replicating Materials and Assemblies) we are exploring the use of Tunable Orthogonal Reversible Covalent (TORC) bonding pairs as side chains on various backbones. Currently, the focus is unifying the experimental conditions for achieving sequence-selective hybridization, followed by a variety of coupling reactions to “sew-up” new strands from templates. Overall, this presentation will highlight the interplay and utility of synthesis and sequencing in sequence-defined polymers.