Patent ID: 7964535

Claim:
A composition comprising: a solid support; and a region on the solid support comprising 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 different building block molecules; each of the building block molecules being independently covalently coupled to the solid support; the region being a contiguous portion of the surface of the solid support with the different building block molecules distributed randomly throughout the contiguous region; 2 or more of the different building block molecules being in proximity to one another and together forming a lead artificial receptor, a working artificial receptor, or a combination thereof for a test ligand; for each of the building block molecules, before testing for binding of a ligand of interest, it is unknown whether or not the ligand of interest binds to the building block molecules; each building block molecule comprising a framework and n recognition elements and independently being of the formula: framework-(recognition element) n in which: n=1, 2, or 3; each recognition element is independently covalently coupled to the framework; and the framework comprises a functional group effective for covalent coupling to a support or a linker; the framework is alkyl, substituted alkyl, cycloalkyl, heterocyclic, substituted heterocyclic, aryl alkyl, aryl, heteroaryl, or heteroaryl alkyl; substituted with 1 to 4 functional groups; the functional groups independently being carboxyl, amine, hydroxyl, phenol, carbonyl, or thiol; each recognition element is independently a 1-12 carbon alkyl, substituted alkyl, cycloalkyl, heterocyclic, substituted heterocyclic, aryl alkyl, aryl, heteroaryl, or heteroaryl alkyl moiety; substituted with a group with a property of positive charge, negative charge, acid, base, electron acceptor, electron donor, hydrogen bond donor, hydrogen bond acceptor, free electron pair, π electrons, charge polarization, hydrophilicity, or hydrophobicity; and when the building block molecule comprises an amino acid derivative, wherein amino acid derivatives are defined as a core feature having the chemical structure —NH—C—C(O)—, the building block molecule comprises a single amino acid derivative and the framework is the amino acid derivative.