The ability to design networks of organic molecular reactions is a goal of systems chemistry, flow chemistry, materials science, and research on the origins of life. The principles, however, that govern self-assembly of dissipative processes are not known and represent a central problem in this area. This presentation will cover how networks of organic reactions can be rationally assembled using simple reaction motifs, and how these networks can be studied to better understand the properties of reaction networks. In particular, we are interested in understanding robustness, or stability to change in any property of the network. Using a physical organic approach, we have investigated structure-property relationships between molecules that comprise a model reaction network, which oscillates due to temporal switching of reactions. We found that mixtures of structurally similar molecules increase the robustness of this model network. These results present a new strategy to assemble and modify the behavior of reaction networks by combining competing reactions.

Self-assembly and robustness of a complex organic reaction network

256th National Meeting (2018)

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