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Inorganic protocells

Gated access to microreactors

Nature Chemistry volume 5, pages 449–451 (2013)Cite this article

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A pH-responsive inorganic membrane has been devised that acts as a gatekeeper for the transport of charged solutes into and out of its interior volume. This behaviour was further used to regulate an enzymatic reaction.

The physical separation of reaction media into distinct regions, or compartments, is an important way of controlling both reaction rates and outcomes. The compartments' roles range from maintaining a high local reagent concentration to providing favourable microenvironments or protecting species from interferents.

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Figure 1: Gated inorganic microreactors.

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  1. Christine D. Keating is in the Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16801, USA,

    Christine D. Keating

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  1. Christine D. Keating
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Correspondence to Christine D. Keating.

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Keating, C. Gated access to microreactors. Nature Chem 5, 449–451 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.1657

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