The confluence of dynamic and constitutional features related to supramolecular self-assemblies� when they occur within mixtures of competing molecular architectures � has recently opened a very intriguing branch of chemical science, the so-called dynamic combinatorial chemistry (DCC). Within this framework, emerging lines of investigations have been directed towards the development of dynamic combinatorial materials and devices.These ones can be defined as multi-component chemical systems which, thanks to the reversibility of their interconnections within networks of competing reactions, and thanks to their sensitivity to environmental parameters, aim at performing modular functional tasks by responding to external stimuli. The behaviour of such dynamic materials is by essence more complex than the one produced by their static or single-component counterparts and as such, they hold higher potentialities in terms of information processing and functionality tuning. Besides materials science, another recent approach in DCC consists in coupling networks of reversible reactions with autocatalytic loops, in order to combine their constitutional �plasticity� with a self-replicating process as an amplification tool. We will discuss some of our works concerning such responsive systems along these two different lines and, more particularly, we will focus on their merging to access self-constructing materials with advanced functional properties for electronic conduction. We will also outline the potential of such systems to act as vectors of information.

Toward self-constructing materials: A systems chemistry approach

246th National Meeting (2013)

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