Sustained Formation, Movement and Destruction of Complex Coacervates in a Waste-Less System Driven by Electricity

Sustained Formation, Movement and Destruction of Complex Coacervates in a Waste-Less System Driven by Electricity | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Sustained Formation, Movement and Destruction of Complex Coacervates in a Waste-Less System Driven by Electricity Guillermo Monreal Santiago, Svetlana Samokhvalova, Kalliopi Fourli, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7067361/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Transient compartmentalization and directional motion are key elements of living matter, and milestones in the development of complex chemical systems such as protocells. Coacervate droplets have been proposed as compartments in this context, as they share properties with biomolecular condensates, which act as transient compartments in biology. Previous efforts to develop out-of-equilibrium coacervates use exergonic reactions as an energy source, but this leads to the accumulation of the side-products of the driving reaction, preventing operation over long periods of time. Here, we present a novel strategy to drive the transient formation and movement of coacervate compartments, using an electric potential between two electrodes as an energy source. In this system, the electrochemical oxidation of a cysteine-containing peptide increases its multivalency, leading to complexation with a polyanion and coacervate formation at the anode. The electrochemically-formed coacervates then move by electrophoresis over a distance more than three orders of magnitude larger than their diameter. In the proximity of the cathode, an electrocatalytic cycle dissolves the coacervates by reduction, recovering the free peptide and polyanion, which can diffuse back to the anode and react again. The system reaches a steady state, in which coacervates are simultaneously forming, moving, and disappearing in different regions of the cell. Since no side- products are generated, the formation-movement-destruction regime can be sustained for more than 16 hours, (two orders of magnitude longer than the lifetime of individual droplets), reaching a steady state. This combination of transient formation, directional movement and coacervate compartments is unique, and can be used for electricity-driven active transport. Physical sciences/Chemistry/Supramolecular chemistry/Self-assembly Physical sciences/Chemistry/Chemical origin of life Physical sciences/Chemistry/Polymer chemistry Physical sciences/Chemistry/Physical chemistry/Thermodynamics Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files 20250707SI.pdf Supporting Information SupportingVideo1.mp4 Supplementary Video 1 SupportingVideo2smaller.mp4 Supplementary Video 2 Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7067361","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":486354428,"identity":"f41b1ba4-6dd7-4720-a84d-6a6ea628afdc","order_by":0,"name":"Guillermo Monreal 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Coacervate droplets have been proposed as\r\ncompartments in this context, as they share properties with biomolecular condensates, which act as transient\r\ncompartments in biology. Previous efforts to develop out-of-equilibrium coacervates use exergonic reactions as an\r\nenergy source, but this leads to the accumulation of the side-products of the driving reaction, preventing operation\r\nover long periods of time. Here, we present a novel strategy to drive the transient formation and movement of\r\ncoacervate compartments, using an electric potential between two electrodes as an energy source. In this system,\r\nthe electrochemical oxidation of a cysteine-containing peptide increases its multivalency, leading to complexation\r\nwith a polyanion and coacervate formation at the anode. The electrochemically-formed coacervates then move by\r\nelectrophoresis over a distance more than three orders of magnitude larger than their diameter. In the proximity of\r\nthe cathode, an electrocatalytic cycle dissolves the coacervates by reduction, recovering the free peptide and\r\npolyanion, which can diffuse back to the anode and react again. The system reaches a steady state, in which\r\ncoacervates are simultaneously forming, moving, and disappearing in different regions of the cell. Since no side-\r\nproducts are generated, the formation-movement-destruction regime can be sustained for more than 16 hours,\r\n(two orders of magnitude longer than the lifetime of individual droplets), reaching a steady state. This combination\r\nof transient formation, directional movement and coacervate compartments is unique, and can be used for\r\nelectricity-driven active transport.","manuscriptTitle":"Sustained Formation, Movement and Destruction of Complex Coacervates in a Waste-Less System Driven by Electricity","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-07-30 04:52:49","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7067361/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-communications","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"NCOMMS","sideBox":"Learn more about [Nature Communications](http://www.nature.com/ncomms/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://mts-ncomms.nature.com/","title":"Nature Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature Communications","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"877e8794-28d8-4f97-bf52-7b5379d4d931","owner":[],"postedDate":"July 30th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":51632009,"name":"Physical sciences/Chemistry/Supramolecular chemistry/Self-assembly"},{"id":51632010,"name":"Physical sciences/Chemistry/Chemical origin of life"},{"id":51632011,"name":"Physical sciences/Chemistry/Polymer chemistry"},{"id":51632012,"name":"Physical sciences/Chemistry/Physical chemistry/Thermodynamics"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-07-30T04:52:49+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-07-30 04:52:49","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7067361","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7067361","identity":"rs-7067361","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}