User Authorization at the Molecular Scale

Abstract

Electronic user authorization systems help us maintain our privacy in many aspects of everyday life. However, the increasing difficulty to secure access and/or information digitally has inspired chemists to devise alternative, molecular approaches, in which users are identified by chemical means. The potential advantages of using molecular user authentication systems over conventional electronic devices are their versatility and unusual operating principles, which complicate replicating and, consequently, breaking into molecular security devices. Their molecular scale is another unique property that enables hiding such systems and, consequently, applying steganography as an additional layer of protection. Although the area of molecular‐based user authorization is still in its infancy, the development of various molecular keypad locks and, more recently, a password‐protected molecular cryptographic machine, indicate the possibility of protecting information at the molecular scale.

DECHEMA Prize: D. Rother / DECHEMA Early‐Career Researcher Prize: P. Stallforth / NCK Prize: D. Margulies

“…These probes can generate a wide range of identification patterns, akin to cross‐reactive arrays, and they can analyze surface modifications of specific proteins in complex mixtures. Margulies and co‐workers recently unveiled a molecular secret sharing scheme in a Communication that was featured on the inside back cover of Angewandte Chemie 's first issue in 2019 and they published a Minireview on user authorization at the molecular scale in ChemPhysChem …”

DECHEMA‐Preis: D. Rother / DECHEMA‐Nachwuchswissenschaftlerpreis für Naturstoffforschung: P. Stallforth / NCK‐Preis: D. Margulies

“…Eine Zuschrift von Margulies und Mitarbeitern über ein molekulares Sicherheitssystem wurde kürzlich für das Innenrücktitelbild des ersten Angewandte‐Chemie ‐Heftes im Jahr 2019 ausgewählt . Seine Gruppe war außerdem mit einem Kurzaufsatz über molekulare Nutzer‐Authentisierung in ChemPhysChem vertreten …”

G-quadruplexes in Prague: A Bohemian Rhapsody

“…This is drug dependent, and a different fluorescence pattern is observed when analytes are added in different orders, resulting in a fingerprint. A library of 13 strands gives rise to 2560 combinations which, excitingly, could be used to design a molecular-scale security system [51].…”