Combinatorial synthesis on arrays

Abstract

The present invention provides methods for synthesizing arrays of polymers. A barrier to a reaction is applied to select features of the array thereby limiting the reaction to the remaining features.

I claim:  
     
         1 . A method for inhibiting a reaction, comprising: providing a substrate for the reaction and applying a barrier to the reaction on the substrate wherein the presence of the barrier is determined by an electrochemical process.  
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a chemically modified electrode.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the reaction is a chemical reaction.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the reaction is an enzymatic reaction.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the electrochemical process is electrodeposition of the barrier.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the electrochemical process is electrodissolution of the barrier.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the substrate is an array comprising distinct features and the barrier is present on a subset of the features.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising performing the reaction on the array, applying a second barrier to a second reaction so that the second barrier is present on a second subset of features, and performing the second reaction on the array.  
     
     
         9 . A method for synthesis of an array of separately formed polymers, comprising: 
 (a) providing an array comprising distinct features wherein a feature comprises one or more functional groups,    (b) using an electrochemical process to apply a barrier on a subset of the features wherein the barrier prevents effective coupling between a monomer having at least one protected functional group and the functional groups in the features,    (c) coupling the monomers to the array,    (d) removing the barrier,    (e) if necessary, deprotecting the functional groups on the monomers coupled to the array, and    (f) repeating steps (b) through (e) until at least two separate polymers are formed on distinct features of the array.