all of these modifications whether used individually or in conjunction with one another can affect the thermodynamic conditions of specific interactions in an arbitrary nucleic acid network such that the binding of desired strands or complexes is favored over clashing interactions without altering sequence content all of these interactions can apply to any branch mediated migration reaction whether they are 3 way branch migrations such as solid phase sequestering toe hold sequestering or toe hold exchange or are branch migrations that take place by other mechanisms e g four way branch migration four way accelerated branch migration or multi strand complex migration in accordance with some embodiments the kinetics of the chemically modified molecules for improved branch migration reaction can be tested one approach is to measure the improvement that different modifications provide in accelerating or retarding the branch migration reaction versus a natural polynucleotide using a fluorescence kinetics assay see fig8 for example here the translator structure has a quencher on one strand and a fluorophore on the other in the absence of the displacement strand the fluorescence of the fluorophore is quenched providing a baseline for the reaction when the displacement molecule which could be modified in the toe hold and or non toe hold regions is added to the translator it will displace the strand with the quencher and in doing so produce a fluorescent signal therefore the rate of fluorescence u201c turn on u201d in the system indicates the kinetics of the displacement reaction this assay can be made more complex by requiring a larger circuit to evaluate before a final fluorescence producing displacement reaction or clashing strands could be added to compete with the displacement strand for the toe hold the approaches in accordance with the invention also can apply to any molecules natural or.