A Self‐Powered Polymeric Material that Responds Autonomously and Continuously to Fleeting Stimuli

Abstract

Minipumpe: Die Einführung einer autoinduktiven, sich selbst fortpflanzenden Reaktion direkt in ein Polymer resultierte in stimuliresponsiven Materialien, die sich das Vorhandensein eines Reizes „merken“ können, selbst nach dessen Abklingen. Zum Test dieses Konzepts wurde eine nichtmechanische, polymerbasierte Pumpe hergestellt, die ein das Polymer umgebendes Fluid pumpen kann, wenn sie einem kurzzeitigen Signal ausgesetzt ist (UV‐Licht; siehe Bild).

Synthetic Nano- and Micromachines in Analytical Chemistry: Sensing, Migration, Capture, Delivery, and Separation

“…Similar to motors, the detection limit for pumps is currently on the order of millimolar concentration. Recently, pumps based on depolymerization (104,106,118,119) and enzyme catalysis (93,105) have attracted significant attention because of their ability to sense and pump in response to specific analytes. The depolymerization pumps consist of insoluble polymer films that depolymerize to release soluble monomeric products when exposed to a specific analyte, whereas the surface-anchored enzyme pumps are turned on in the presence of either the substrate, a promoter (cofactor), or a related biomarker.…”

Dynamic Loading and Unloading of Proteins in Polymeric Stomatocytes: Formation of an Enzyme-Loaded Supramolecular Nanomotor

“…Their intricate movement and architecture have been a source of inspiration for scientists from a wide range of disciplines 1−8 who have tried to mimic biological motor function using both top-down and bottom-up strategies. 7,9−12 Various motor designs have been reported in the literature, such as nanorods/wire motors, 3,13 tubular motors, 14,15 Janus motors, 16 polymer-based motors, 15,17 and polymeric self-assembled nanomotors. 11,18 These systems have opened the door to various biomedical- 19−24 and environmental-related applications; 25,26 however for such motors to be truly successfully applied in a biological context, a nanosized motor has to be constructed that can propel itself in biological fluids and at biologically relevant fuel concentrations, employing a fuel-selective catalytic system.…”

A strategy for minimizing background signal in autoinductive signal amplification reactions for point-of-need assays

“…The design of signal amplication reactions for use in pointof-need diagnostics is a topic of immense interest, [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] but also of signicant hurtles, particularly when operational simplicity for an assay is placed at a premium. Small molecule-based signal amplication reactions offer one potential route for achieving an amplied readout directly in an operationally straightforward assay.…”

“…Several variations of the general amplication strategy have been reported, including assays in which (i) a single small molecule reagent simultaneously mediates the self-propagating signal amplication reaction and provides the amplied readout for the assay (termed direct signal amplication; Fig. 1a); 8,[16][17][18][19][20][21] (ii) two or more small molecule reagents operate in concert to provide the amplied readout (indirect signal amplication; Fig. 1b); 22,23 or (iii) an enzyme and one or more small molecule reagents are used in concert to enable amplication of the desired readout (enzyme-mediated indirect signal amplication; Fig.…”

“…13,[24][25][26][27] Collectively, these three variants have been used in assays that detect low levels of uoride, hydrogen peroxide, palladium, thiols, glucose, b-D-galactosidase, choline, pencillin-G-amidase, and alcohol oxidase, but also should be amenable to a wide range of other analytes. 8,12,13,16,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] These variants largely employ thermally stable reagents, and thus should be functional in nearly any point-of-need setting.…”