Helical Polymers for Artificial Cell Engineering: Backbone-to-Droplet Reorganization in Polyacetylene-based Microdroplets
- 1Bioinspired Nanochemistry (BioNanoChem) Group CICA - Centro Interdisciplinar de Química e Bioloxía Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidade da Coruña, Rúa As Carballeiras s/n, Campus de Elviña, A Coruña, Spain, 15071
Abstract
Biomolecular condensates provide a powerful framework for constructing artificial cells with crowded interiors and dynamic molecular organization. However, most synthetic condensates rely on flexible or intrinsically disordered macromolecules, leaving the role of conformationally defined synthetic polymers in liquid-liquid phase separation largely unexplored. Here, we introduce cationic helical polyacetylenes as structurally defined building blocks for coacervate-based artificial cells and investigate how their conformation governs condensate properties. Complexation with ATP generates spherical, liquid-like microdroplets that sequester small organic molecules and proteins from the surrounding solution while supporting enzymatic transformations. These coacervates exhibit substantially greater resistance to increasing ionic strength than those formed with their linear counterparts, a behavior associated with changes in the polyacetylene backbone upon ATP complexation. Moreover, combining helical and linear polyamines induces the heterogeneous partitioning of a hydrophilic molecular guest, accompanied by a transition from spherical to amorphous condensates. Together, these findings establish a direct link between polymer secondary structure and condensate stability, morphology, and molecular organization, highlighting conformationally defined synthetic polymers as versatile building blocks for artificial cell engineering.
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BibTeX
@misc{gonzalez2026helical,
title = {{Helical Polymers for Artificial Cell Engineering: Backbone-to-Droplet Reorganization in Polyacetylene-based Microdroplets}},
author = {Bruno Delgado Gonzalez and Ivan Torreiro-Leon and Lucía Medín-Agraso and Lorena Sánchez-Domínguez and Manuel Míguez and Roberto J. Brea and Paco Fernandez-Trillo},
howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15009128/v1},
url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009128/v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Helical Polymers for Artificial Cell Engineering: Backbone-to-Droplet Reorganization in Polyacetylene-based Microdroplets
AU - Bruno Delgado Gonzalez
AU - Ivan Torreiro-Leon
AU - Lucía Medín-Agraso
AU - Lorena Sánchez-Domínguez
AU - Manuel Míguez
AU - Roberto J. Brea
AU - Paco Fernandez-Trillo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/21
PB - ChemRxiv
DO - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15009128/v1
UR - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009128/v1
AB - Biomolecular condensates provide a powerful framework for constructing artificial cells with crowded interiors and dynamic molecular organization. However, most synthetic condensates rely on flexible or intrinsically disordered macromolecules, leaving the role of conformationally defined synthetic polymers in liquid-liquid phase separation largely unexplored. Here, we introduce cationic helical polyacetylenes as structurally defined building blocks for coacervate-based artificial cells and investigate how their conformation governs condensate properties. Complexation with ATP generates spherical, liquid-like microdroplets that sequester small organic molecules and proteins from the surrounding solution while supporting enzymatic transformations. These coacervates exhibit substantially greater resistance to increasing ionic strength than those formed with their linear counterparts, a behavior associated with changes in the polyacetylene backbone upon ATP complexation. Moreover, combining helical and linear polyamines induces the heterogeneous partitioning of a hydrophilic molecular guest, accompanied by a transition from spherical to amorphous condensates. Together, these findings establish a direct link between polymer secondary structure and condensate stability, morphology, and molecular organization, highlighting conformationally defined synthetic polymers as versatile building blocks for artificial cell engineering.
ER -