Efficient molecular encoding in multifunctional self-immolative urethanes

• Published in: Cell reports physical science 2021-04, Vol.2 (4), p.100393, Article 100393
• Main Authors: Dahlhauser, Samuel D., Moor, Sarah R., Vera, Marissa S., York, Jordan T., Ngo, Phuoc, Boley, Alexander J., Coronado, Jaime N., Simpson, Zack B., Anslyn, Eric V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: data compression; digital polymers; molecular encoding; oligourethanes; parallel synthesis; self-immolative polymers; sequence-defined polymers
• ISSN: 2666-3864; 2666-3864
• DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrp.2021.100393

Molecular encoding in sequence-defined polymers shows promise as a new paradigm for data storage. Here, we report what is, to our knowledge, the first use of self-immolative oligourethanes for storing and reading encoded information. As a proof of principle, we describe how a text passage from Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park was encoded in sequence-defined oligourethanes and reconstructed via self-immolative sequencing. We develop Mol.E-coder, a software tool that uses a Huffman encoding scheme to convert the character table to hexadecimal. The oligourethanes are then generated by a high-throughput parallel synthesis. Sequencing of the oligourethanes by self-immolation is done concurrently in a parallel fashion, and the liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) information decoded by our Mol.E-decoder software. The passage is capable of being reproduced wholly intact by a third-party, without any purifications or the use of tandem MS (MS/MS), despite multiple rounds of compression, encoding, and synthesis. [Display omitted] An immolative self-sequencing platform to encode and decode molecular informationHigh-throughput synthesis of multifunctional oligomers comprising 16 unique monomersHigh-throughput, parallelized sequencing methodology for faster information retrievalSoftware processes and converts the mass spectrometry data back to original information Dense and cost-effective means for storing information for future use is needed as society continues to produce data exponentially. Abiotic polymers (plastics) are an exceptional platform for information storage because of their accessibility and limitless structural modifications. However, efficient, high-throughput means for “writing” on them and “reading” them are still needed. Herein, Dahlhauser et al. report the high-throughput synthesis (writing) and sequencing (reading) of urethanes.