Dissipative assembly of a membrane transport system

Abstract

A membrane transport system functions only when activated by a chemical fuel.

Energy consumption in chemical fuel-driven self-assembly

“…3a). 11,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] Here, a chemical fuel (F) reacts -either covalently or noncovalentlywith monomer M leading to an activated monomer M* which has the ability to aggregate (A* n ) in a thermodynamically favored process. Contemporaneously a backward reaction takes place which converts M* (or A* n ) back to M (or A n ) accompanied by the release of waste (W).…”

“…In the absence of reported kinetic parameters for all reaction steps in published examples of self-assembling systems relying on chemical fuel consumption, 11,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] it is impossible to certify in an unambiguous manner whether these systems exploit a chemically-driven information ratchet mechanism. Such an analysis is further hampered by the fact that most examples rely on the batch-wise addition of fuel, in which high-energy species may indeed be transiently observed, but not necessarily because of asymmetric energy consumption.…”

Substrate‐Induced Self‐Assembly of Cooperative Catalysts

“…This has sparked strong interest in the design of chemical‐fuel driven out‐of‐equilibrium systems, in particular related to self‐assembly . The majority of reported examples rely on the covalent modification of building blocks, which changes their propensity to form assemblies . However, driven self‐assembly processes in Nature, that is, fuel‐driven processes that lead to a population of a high‐energy state, rely exquisitely on the use of noncovalent interactions for building block activation .…”

Reactions Coupled Self‐ and Co‐Assembly: A Highly Dynamic Process and the Resultant Spatially Inhomogeneous Structure

“…[13][14][15][16][17][18] In recent years, research interest rises on how reactions or energy exchange can affect the assembly process. [19,20] In this aspect, dissipative/non-equilibrium assembly has been realized by coupling with reactions such as esterification, hydrolysis and others, to mimic the self-assembly in energy-consumption conditions in life system, [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] and somes pecialr eactions, such as hydrolysisa nd polymerization, have been appliedt ot rigger the assembly to construct complex structures or realize some special functions. [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] These groundbreaking pieces of work have promoted self-assemblies to transfer from static ones to dynamic ones.…”