Systems Chemistry from Concepts to Conception

The main difference between man-made processes and products and those found in the living world is that the former are typically passive and static while the latter are active and dynamic. Life is the product of complex systems of molecular reactions; connections and interactions giving rise to a highly dynamic and functional whole. While research into the nature of complex systems is by now well established in some related scientific disciplines (e.g., physics, biology, computer science), chemistry embraced a "systems" view only very recently. It is now possible that the ability to control such dynamic chemical systems may pave the way to understanding the emergence of function in early evolution, and consequently, for the design and preparation of functional biomimetic systems as complex as artificial cells and tissues. Furthermore, it is anticipated that developing such systems can deliver, in the short and long term, radically different approaches in areas ranging from materials science to evolvable biologics for medicine. The design and study of complex systems, i.e., of dynamic, self-organized, multi-component chemical networks, has been integrated under the umbrella of the recently inaugurated discipline of Systems Chemistry.

This first conference will offer a much needed international venue for presenting and discussing breakthrough results in systems chemistry, for sharing new emerging methodology, and for refinement of the ideas coherently across these rapidly emerging new research directions. With the recent advances in instrumentation and analytical tools, complex chemical systems are opening new approaches for the construction and design of dynamic mesoscale materials. Coherence remains limited by the diversity of disciplines involved, with chemistry, physics, bio-engineering and structural biology scientists all independently converging on the central topic of complex chemical systems. This diversity applies equally to scientists from communities studying (i) supramolecular chemistry, (ii) origins of life, and (iii) far-from-equilibrium systems. A confluence of these fields could catalyze the rise of new emergent functions not apparent in the system's components.