To the best of our knowledge contemporary molecular machinery or their simpler prototypes, molecular switches, are generally designed for the stand-alone mode with no network to other molecular devices. While latest years have brought along impressive developments in the arena of molecular switches, we feel that the time has come to push the field toward chemically networked switches and devices, a new subfield of systems chemistry. For chemical signaling we use metal ions, such as copper(I) and iron(II) ions in solution, following the example of nature that very efficiently uses such metal ions for regulation in cells (e.g. in lipolysis or brain activity).<br/><br/>With this perspective in mind we have created a family of orthogonally operating molecular switches, which work free of interference and that may be linked for communication through metal ions as chemical signals. In detail, we report about (i) the development of various non-interfering metal-ligand coordination scenarios as a toolbox, (ii) their utility in the synthesis of stand-alone switches for catalysis and communication, and (iii) the achievement of orthogonal chemical communication between functional switches.<br/><br/>The prospects of these findings suggested developing the field of switches further on toward fully networked artificial devices in action. As a result, we will describe our most recent efforts to build interdependent networks of nanoswitches that generate a functional emergent property only as an interacting entity. The successful realization of such systems requires the design of smart orthogonal metal-ion signaling involving a multitude of predesigned components (smart mixtures) that fulfil the criterion of a molecular cybernetic algorithm.

Networking nanoswitches for communication and catalysis using coordination chemistry

254th National Meeting (2017)

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