Sequencing technique may revolutionise data storage

Chemists at Reading University have developed a way of ’reading’ the molecular sequences of a synthetic polymer, which could be used to represent digital data.

DNA stores genetic instructions in the form of different sequences of base molecules. In a similar way, the sequences in synthetic polymers made from two types of molecule could be equated with the ones and zeros that make up binary digital code.

The Reading team found specific sequences of monomers in a copolyimide could be recognised by their interactions with additional molecules known as ’tweezers’, which match the shape and electrical charge of sections of the sequence.

‘The polymer sits in solution with the tweezers, which come to rest and bind most strongly when they match,’ Howard Colquhoun, team leader and professor of materials chemistry, told The Engineer.

‘We found in practice that the tweezer molecules sit next to each other in the sequence,’ he added. This meant the team could read much longer sequences than it had expected.