Biologically Inspired Molecular Assembly Lines

This paper proposes a biologically inspired 'molecular assembly line' — an externally programmable polymeric chain along which molecules are shuttled between chain sites along an arbitrary pathway. Our hope is to construct a scaffold that mimics biological enzymes known as polyketide synthases in their ability to physically hand-off molecules between assembly sites or domains, thereby making all chemical reactions domain-specific and diffusionless processes. It will be shown that a system with three wavelength selective chemical interactions allows a 'shuttle' on the assembly line to move bi-directionally and be bi-stable in the absence of inputs. Potential applications of the molecular assembly line in programmed assembly and molecular electronics will be discussed, as well as initial experimental work towards building a molecular assembly line driven by UV-light.