Chemical Communication between Molecules

Abstract

In this Minireview conceptual approaches towards the communication between (supra)molecular species are illustrated. The reviewed mechanisms include photophysical communication through energy transfer and communication mediated by chemical species that are released from precursors upon application of an external stimulus. The focus is on the stimulation by (reversible) photoreactions. Special attention has been given to supramolecular systems that illustrate the idea of chemical communication and information transfer in a very descriptive manner.

Heteroleptic metallosupramolecular aggregates/complexation for supramolecular catalysis

“…The present short account with a focus on dynamic heteroleptic metal complexation seeks to demonstrate that (metallo)supramolecular catalysis has many more opportunities to offer. While the examples in the first subchapter illustrate the much higher diversity of heteroleptic over homoleptic cages, the following subchapters above all exemplify that supramolecular chemistry extends beyond the single "supramolecular structure", as complex it may be, thus reaching far into the field and concepts of systems chemistry [ 30 , 136 ] and information science [ 137 – 138 ]. For instance, toggling between and dynamic exchange within supramolecular structures add features to catalysis as ON/OFF or UP/DOWN regulation of catalytic activity.…”

Toward Molecular Cybernetics – the Art of Communicating Chemical Systems

“…The first and highly important prerequisite for any cybernetic regulation is interference‐free, robust and instant signaling, [9,10] most importantly between switches. Latter are relevant for controlling the next measure in an extended cascade of events.…”

Chemical Communication between Organometallic Single‐Chain Polymer Nanoparticles

“…[5] At the molecular level, these compounds are usually identified by ar eceptor and, upon binding,aconformational change occursa nd as ignal is transmitted. [6] Whereas natural systems have been prominently studied,p roduction of synthetic systems in which chemical communication between catalytic systems occurs is challenging, [7] with perhaps the best examples being the recent developments in the field of out-of-equilibrium systems, in which small molecules control the activity of ac atalyst and disturb-ance can occur upon addition/removal of one of the chemical units. [8] Albeit challenging in design,m anyp hotosensitive systems were used to demonstrate chemical communicationb etween functional groups,a nd af ew systemsi nw hich hostguest binding and changing the catalytic activity were made possible by small molecule communication.…”