Chen Ze-Qing, Daly Brian, Yao Chao-Yi, Crory Hannah S N, Xu Yikai, Ye Ziwei, Gunaratne H Q Nimal, Kimura Ayumi, Uchiyama Seiichi, Bell Steven E J, Anslyn Eric V, de Silva A Prasanna
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen's University, Belfast, BT9 5AG, Northern Ireland, UK.
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Yuelu District, Changsha, Hunan Province, 410006, China.
Nat Commun. 2025 Mar 28;16(1):3015. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-58379-0.
Due to the small size and biocompatibility of molecules, molecular logic-based computation is a gateway to the informational basis of life processes. Logic-based computation operates widely with discrete molecules of up to nanometric sizes. The contribution of molecule-based bulk materials of milli/centimetric size to the field has begun in more recent years. However, artificial molecule-based meso-scale systems which intrinsically perform logic operations are very rare. Here, we show that self-assembled systems consisting of cyclophane octacarboxylates and a cationic surfactant can perform such functions, where a membrane itself behaves as a Reset-Set Flip-Flop which is integrated with 7 more logic elements. Now that molecular logic-based computation operates across a wide range of contiguous size-scales, the way opens for its general use in information processing aspects of biology and synthetic biology.
由于分子的尺寸小且具有生物相容性，基于分子逻辑的计算是通向生命过程信息基础的一扇大门。基于逻辑的计算广泛应用于尺寸达纳米级别的离散分子。基于毫米/厘米尺寸的分子块状材料对该领域的贡献近年来才刚刚开始。然而，本质上能够执行逻辑运算的基于人工分子的中尺度系统却非常罕见。在此，我们展示了由环芳辛羧酸酯和阳离子表面活性剂组成的自组装系统能够执行此类功能，其中一个膜本身表现为一个复位 - 置位触发器，并与另外7个逻辑元件集成在一起。鉴于基于分子逻辑的计算在广泛的连续尺寸范围内都能运行，这为其在生物学和合成生物学的信息处理方面的普遍应用开辟了道路。
