Digital Polymers: A Revolution in Information Storage Technology and Encryption by Writing on Polymer Chains

Document Type : compile

Authors

Malek Ashtar University of Technology

10.22063/basparesh.2025.35700.1741

Abstract

Digital polymers are a special class of copolymers with a narrow molecular weight distribution in which the monomer sequence along the polymer chain is precisely dictated using specific synthetic methods. Inspired by the nature that biological information is stored on biomolecules through specific molecular sequences, the idea has emerged that information can be encoded in binary form onto polymer chains by synthesizing copolymers with defined monomer sequences. Considering the various methods of information encoding on polymer chains such as topological encoding, sequence-controlled monomer encoding, and optical encoding, this article focuses on the investigation of sequence-controlled monomer encoding. Achieving such information-containing polymers requires first, the design of specific monomers, then the synthesis of polymers using fully controlled methods, and finally, accurate techniques for reading the stored information. Writing information into polymers is mainly carried out through iterative synthesis techniques such as solid-phase synthesis or click chemistry reactions, while reading the stored data is typically done using tandem mass spectrometry. The structural diversity of these information-containing polymers results in higher stability, increased storage density, and minimal spatial footprint. These advantages position digital polymers as a next-generation data storage technology, offering high-capacity storage in an extremely compact, molecular-scale format.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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