September 25, 2014
Corresponding author: Günter von Kiedrowski kiedro@rub.de
Bioorganic Chemistry, Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany
<More about author>
Journal of Systems Chemistry 2010, 1:1 doi:10.1186/1759-2208-1-1
Why Systems Chemistry?
Synthesis and design is per se a chemical endeavor - but the goal of synthesis in chemistry is usually a chemical structure. On the other hand, the design and synthesis of complex dynamic behavior in chemical systems is as much in its infant shoes as the reduction and reconstruction approach of synthetic biology. It is a challenge (if not the challenge) for the chemistry of the 21st century. Let us now try to generalize the challenges that face Systems Chemistry in the near future. Systems chemistry seeks to combine the "classical" knowledge of chemistry, viz. the language of molecules, their structures, their reactions and interactions, together with the "classical" knowledge derived from existing forms of life. One component of this approach, acting both as a translator and abstractor between these languages comes from the fields of theoretical biology and complex systems research; the other key component comes from a chemistry that is the offspring of both supramolecular and prebiotic chemistry, and adds a new dimension that has not been sufficiently addressed so far. Over the past decades more and more chemists have learned to design and implement chemical systems showing emergent behavior, such as simple self-replicating and self-reproducing systems, chiral symmetry breaking reactions, as well as far-from-equilibrium self-organizing systems (i.e. oscillating reactions , Turing patterns) and today we even have the first examples of systems chemistry making molecular motors [69]. For a more detailed description of some recent highlights in systems chemistry from a more supramolecular perspective, see ref [70]. What is missing here is a kind of generalization of "synthetic methods" based on the principles of autocatalysis, supramolecular self-organization, molecular information processing, and moreover, applicable in the range from small molecules via nano- to mesosystems. Before we will be able to come to such generalizations, many more studies of the complex/emergent behavior of chemical systems are required. The analytical tools have now become accessible to most chemists to be able to set off and explore the largely uncharted territory of chemistry at systems level. The discoveries and new insights that this territory holds in store require a forum for dissemination. The Journal of Systems Chemistry has been set up for this purpose at a time that Systems Chemistry starts to resonate with an increasingly large number of chemists, biologists, physicists and computer scientists.
⓿ The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.jsystchem.com/content/1/1/1
