The first instance of a redox activated self-assembling containment system allowing DNA control is that developed by Rasmussen and colleagues. This system based on Ruthenium bpy photoactivation will serve as a reference system for the development of redox activated scpDNA containers.
Nano to microscale environments, formed by the self-assembly of specialized structures in otherwise homogeneous solvents, offer new approaches to the design of functional complex reaction networks. Specialized structures formed by fatty acid amphiphiles and include liposomes/vesicles, emulsion compartments, and lipid bilayers in the crystalline state (also called lipid-bilayer lattices). These self-assembled environments have the capacity to assemble molecules or complex catalytic machineries into unique configurations that are unstable or unavailable in bulk aqueous phases, thus providing emergent system properties, which allow new processes to occur.
Electronic control of such environments will be investigated for separation, movement, and modification of the phase.
