Reading Information Stored in Synthetic Macromolecules

Abstract

The storage of information in synthetic (macro)molecules provides an attractive alternative for current archival storage media, and the advancements made within this area have prompted the investigation of such molecules for numerous other applications (e.g., anti-counterfeiting tags, steganography). While different strategies have been described for storing information at the molecular level, this Perspective aims to provide a critical overview of the most prominent approaches that can be utilized for retrieving the encoded information. The major part will focus on the sequence determination of synthetic macromolecules, wherein information is stored by the precise arrangement of constituting monomers, with an emphasis on chemically aided strategies, (tandem) mass spectrometry, and nanopore sensing. In addition, recent progress in utilizing (mixtures of) small molecules for information storage will be discussed. Finally, the closing remarks aim to highlight which strategy we believe is the most suitable for a series of specific applications, and will also touch upon the future research avenues that can be pursued for reading (macro)molecular information.

Emerging Trends in the Chemistry of End-to-End Depolymerization

“…146 In this aspect, controlled end-to-end depolymerization provides an appealing approach to achieve facile data decryption, similar to the stepwise Edman degradation for protein sequencing (Figure 10a). 146 In ethanes via a controlled and iterative depolymerization (Figure 10bi). 147 A terminal β-alcohol facilitated a thermodynamically favorable but kinetically slow cyclization that released a 2oxazolidinone and a new alcohol that was available for the next cyclization event, under basic conditions at 70 °C.…”

“…For example, they can serve as alternative information storage media due to their chemical diversity and durability . To this end, the development and use of sequencing methods to decipher the sequence information is of great significance . In this aspect, controlled end-to-end depolymerization provides an appealing approach to achieve facile data decryption, similar to the stepwise Edman degradation for protein sequencing (Figure a) …”

“…145 To this end, the development and use of sequencing methods to decipher the sequence information is of great significance. 146 In this aspect, controlled end-to-end depolymerization provides an appealing approach to achieve facile data decryption, similar to the stepwise Edman degradation for protein sequencing (Figure 10a). 146 In ethanes via a controlled and iterative depolymerization (Figure 10bi).…”

Sequence-defined antibody-recruiting macromolecules

“…8,[13][14][15] Thiolactone chemistry, for example, has been explored by our group and others [16][17][18] for the synthesis of a wide range of discrete macromolecules including stereocontrolled oligomers, polyampholytes, 11 and star-shaped macromolecules. 19 This chemistry proved very efficient in advanced applications such as single-chain nanoparticles 12 or data storage [20][21][22] and it has been selected in this research for the design of antibody recruiting polymers.…”

Informational Polymers with Precise Carbamate Sequences

“…One important trend in precision chemistry is the design of sequence-controlled polymers. , Over the last years, there was a large number of reports describing the synthesis, − characterization, , physicochemical properties, , and applications , of such precision macromolecules. In particular, when monomer sequences are perfectly defined (i.e., each monomer is placed at a given position in all chains), synthetic polymers may contain monomer-encoded information and, therefore, are interesting candidates for applications in areas such as molecular data storage, − cryptography, , and anticounterfeiting technologies. , This new functional macromolecules are named informational polymers or sometimes also referred to as digital polymers, depending on the targeted application.…”