Dynamical Behaviors of Oscillating Metallosurfactant Coacervate Microdroplets under Redox Stress

Living systems create complex structures and functions by mastering self-organization in a variety of equilibrium and non-equilibrium states. Mimicking the dynamical phenomena with synthetic cell-like entities (protocells) under non-equilibrium conditions offers an important step toward the representation of minimum life. Here, the cell-sized coacervate microdroplets assembled from associative metallosurfactant coacervation via liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) that exhibits non-equilibrium behaviors are reported. The compartmentalized protocell coacervates display collective dynamics that synchronize into system oscillations, showing autonomous death/regeneration and contraction/expansion cycles with external redox stress. The collective oscillation of abiotic metallosurfactant microdroplets can sustain both in solution and at the colloidal interface, allowing for dynamic sequestration, mass transport, and passing through nanosized channels, reminiscent of red blood cells that can deform and squeeze through narrow capillaries. The design of self-oscillating cell-sized constructs will shed a light on the creation of life-like soft materials with autonomous motion driven by complex chemical stimuli, which can be further used as nonbiological models for dynamic aggregates and intercellular communication.