FUNAMBULIST

large-scale production of pure enantiomers

The FUNAMBULIST project proposes a radical and disruptive approach to the large-scale production of fine chemicals, particularly pure enantiomers, the purification of which currently accounts for up to 80% of processing costs. The project challenges the convention that fine chemicals must be produced via traditional synthetic routes (in organic molecular solvents) or biological routes (in aqueous environments). To this end, it emulates biology in an unnatural context, using DNA as chiral and versatile building blocks to catalyse reactions, replacing the aqueous environment with unconventional solvents (such as ionic liquids). This enables the creation of a cross-cutting chemical ‘toolbox’, supported by artificial intelligence, to optimise performance, efficiency and sustainability.

Challenges

Overcome the limitations of using water in DNA-based catalysis (solubility of reactants and products) by developing tunable non-aqueous solvents (such as ionic liquids or deep eutectic solvents).

To create scaffolds and non-natural DNA homologues that catalyse chemical reactions.

To develop an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm capable of optimising chemical reactions for higher yield, lower costs and reduced environmental impact.

Solution

Development of a modular ‘chemical toolkit’ combining:

Nucleic acid biocatalysts modified with unconventional solvents.
Advances in nucleic acid scaffold design and droplet-based microfluidics for ultra-high-throughput screening.
AI algorithms to predict and optimise new synthetic routes for the manufacture of fine chemicals, drastically reducing purification costs.