Physics

Nonlinear system

Nanotechnology

Chemical reaction

Organic chemistry

Work (physics)

Metastability

Catalysis

Chemical physics

Chemistry

Materials science

Chemical energy

Multistability

Closed system (control theory)

Molecule

Quantum mechanics

Supramolecular chemistry

Autocatalysis

Biochemistry

Thermodynamics

Nature Communications

The continuous consumption of chemical energy powers biological systems so that they can operate functional supramolecular structures. A goal of modern science is to understand how simple chemical mixtures may transition from non-living components to truly emergent systems and the production of new lifelike materials and machines. In this work a replicator can be maintained out-of-equilibrium by the continuous consumption of chemical energy. The system is driven by the autocatalytic formation of a metastable surfactant whose breakdown products are converted back into building blocks by a chemical fuel. The consumption of fuel allows the high-energy replicators to persist at a steady state, much like a simple metabolic cycle. Thermodynamically-driven reactions effect a unidirectional substrate flux as the system tries to regain equilibrium. The metastable replicator persists at a higher concentration than achieved even transiently in a closed system, and its concentration is responsive to the rate of fuel supply.

A chemically fuelled self-replicator