Programmed Biologically Inspired Synthetic Templating of Multifunctional Nanoarchitectures for Small‐Scale Reactions

Nature has demonstrated the ability to create highly efficient reactions on small scales by using dimensional constraints and geometric advantages in unique and powerful ways. Inspired by elegant nanoscale cytoskeletal reactions, we have demonstrated a novel method for accelerating the rates of reactions by controlling spatiotemporal relationships using synthetic templating for multifunctional nanoarchitectures. In our model system we used tetrameric β‐galactosidase, split into a pair of nonreactive dimers, and organized them to have a strong affinity for microtubules. This microtubule templating increases the concentration of the dimers to a level at which they will frequently reform into active tetramers. The reactive activity of the β‐galactosidase was monitored by X‐gal, which enabled us to demonstrate a nearly 30‐fold increase in the maximum rate of reaction. We have shown that the use of biologically inspired approaches will give us the ability to control some of the essential basics in biology and medical chemistry through increasing reaction rates. These results will have applications in a wide range of fields including nanotechnology, synthetic biology, chemistry, engineering, and polymer physics.