| EPSRC Reference: |
EP/L016621/1 |
| Title: |
The Controlled Synthesis of Nanostructured Polymers Using Molecular Machines |
| Principal Investigator: |
Goldup, Professor SM |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Researcher Co-Investigators: |
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| Project Partners: |
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| Department: |
Sch of Biological and Chemical Sciences |
| Organisation: |
Queen Mary University of London |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research |
| Starts: |
01 April 2014 |
Ends: |
30 September 2014 |
Value (£): |
250,184
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Materials Characterisation |
Materials Synthesis & Growth |
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| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
| No relevance to Underpinning Sectors |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
Nature makes extensive use of co-polymers to create well-defined nanostructures. These polymers such as proteins and nucleic acid are produced, manipulated and maintained by complex but highly efficient molecular machines. Mankind too
has begun to take advantage of the self-assembly properties of co-polymers to produce nanostructures and these are now beginning to find applications in health care, and the electronics and energy industries. However, our ability to make
nanostructured polymers lags significantly behind natural systems.
Given the significant benefits nature has found in using molecular machines to produce nanostructured co-polymers it seems reasonable to suggest that we could do the same for non-natural materials. Here we propose a simple molecular
machine that does just that: it uses controlled molecular motion to measure the length of a growing polymer chain and produce blocks of monomers of a fixed length (L). By application of external stimuli (light, pH) it can be operated repetitively to produce multiple blocks of length L with a variety of monomers in order to build up a nanostructured polymer with extremely well defined features and properties.
Each molecular machine can be used to make multiple copies of the product in much the same way as biological machines make multiple copies of their target. Further, as the machine control is provided by external stimuli and addition of
monomers, a single generic device can be used to make many different products simply by varying the monomers provided. These factors combine to make the proposed machine potentially applicable to real-world problems and suggests
they may find industrial applications.
Our unusual, bio-inspired approach to polymer synthesis will revolutionize access to nanostructured block co-polymers and could thus prove transformative across a range of nanotechnology applications.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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