Accelerated materials discovery enabled by synthetic systems

The design and synthesis of functional polymers, aimed at targeted properties through specific structures, have long been challenged by their complex and often nonlinear structure− property relationships. Key processes, including knowledge accumulation for predictive design and experimental refinement and validation, are traditionally labor-insensitive and timeconsuming, making it difficult to balance accuracy and efficiency.

Self-driving labs (SDLs) combine robotic automation with artificial intelligence (AI) to allow autonomous, high-throughput experimentation. However, robot manipulation in most SDL workflows operates in an open-loop manner, lacking real-time error detection and error correction. This can reduce reliability and overall efficiency.

Diverse collections of well-defined glycans are needed to investigate the molecular mechanisms by which these biomolecules mediate biological and disease processes. Several automation approaches have been introduced to accelerate the enzymatic synthesis of complex glycans. These methodologies have, however, provided only relatively simple oligosaccharides due to limitations of glycosyl transferase selectivity.