Molecular systems are assemblies of molecules designed to possess special qualities and desired functionality. Such systems are important because they provide materials with novel properties, and they will be particularly useful for minimizing electronic devices. In this two volume work, the first volume, subtitled 'From Molecules to Molecular Systems', covered the fundamentals of molecular design, while volume 2 deals with the potential applications of molecular systems. Information transduction and energy conversion are the basis of any practical device, and these considerations, along with the required interconnections and interfaces, are analyzed to produce the architectural design for a molecular system. The preparation of molecular systems is also considered, including that of self-organizing molecular assemblies, ultrathin films, and ultrafine particles.
Molecular systems are assemblies of molecules designed to possess special qualities and desired functionality. Such systems are important because they provide materials with novel properties, and they will be particularly useful for minimizing electronic devices. Molecular systems often form organized molecular crystals, polymers, or thin films that are significantly more complex than current materials. To provide a sound basis for understanding these levels of complexity, this book provides an analysis of the fundamentals of electronic structures, dynamic processes in condensed phases, and the unique properties of organic molecular solids and the environmental effects on these properties. Also covered are the latest methods in physical chemistry that are particularly useful for deriving and controlling the functionality of molecular systems. A second volume subtitled From Molecular Systems to Molecular Devices is also being published.
The reductionist approach of molecular biology has given us detailed descriptions for many biochemical constituents of complex biological systems. For some of the simpler systems nearly the entire "parts catalog" has been assembled. These developments have set the stage for a new generation of questions -- questions of integration that deal with the relation between behavior of intact systems and their underlying molecular determinants, questions of unifying design principles that will give meaning to the bewildering diversity of alternative molecular designs, questions of higher-level theory and quantitative prediction, which currently are not available in most of biology. The motivation to develop this new perspective comes from the study of complex biochemical pathways, intricate circuits of gene regulation, network interactions within the immune system, plasticity of neural networks, and pattern formation by cellular networks. All these networks consist of more elemental constituents that find their meaning within the context of the intact system. The integrative perspective requires a new language and methodology. The objective of this text is to systematically develop these and to apply them to specific classes of metabolic networks and gene circuitry. The applications demonstrate the power of this approach to formulate and answer fundamental questions concerning network function, design and evolution that currently cannot be addressed by other methods. The text was first published in 1976 and is being reissued to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the author's first paper published on Biochemical Systems Analysis.
We all learn - in schools, factories, bars and streets. We gather, store, process and transmit information in society. Molecular systems involved in our senses and within our brains allow all this to happen and molecular systems allow living things of all kinds to handle information for the purpose of survival and growth. Nevertheless, the vital link between molecules and computation was not generally appreciated until a few decades ago. Semiconductor-based information technology had penetrated society at many levels and the interest in maintaining momentum of this revolution led to the consideration of molecules, among others, as possible information handlers. Such an overlap between the recent engineering-oriented revolution with the ancient biology-oriented success story is very interesting and George Boole's times in Ireland 150 years ago produced the logic ideas that provide the foundations of computation to this day. Molecular logic and computation is a field which is 17 years young, has had a healthy growth and is a story which deserves to be told. It is a growing branch of chemical science which highlights the connection between information technology (engineering and biological) and chemistry. The author and co-workers of this publication launched molecular logic as an experimental field by publishing the first research in the primary literature in 1993 and are uniquely placed to recount how the field has grown. There is no other book at present on molecular logic and computation and is more comprehensive than that found in any review available so far. It shows how designed molecules can play the role of information processors in a wide variety of situations, once we are educated by those information processors already available in the semiconductor electronics business and in the natural world. Following a short history of the field, is a set of primers on logic, computing and photochemical principles which are an essential basis in this field. The book covers all of the Boolean logic gates driven by a single input and all of those with double inputs and the wide range of designs which lie beneath these gates is a particular highlight. The easily-available diversity of chemical systems is another highlight, especially when it leads to reconfigurable logic gates. Further on in the book, molecular arithmetic and other more complex logic operations, including those with a memory and those which stray beyond binary are covered. Then follows molecular computing approaches which lie outside the Boolean blueprint, including quantum phenomena and finally, the book catalogues the useful real-life applications of molecular logic and computation which are already available. This book is an authoritative, state of the art, reference and a 'one-stop-shop' concerning the current state of the field for scientists, academics and postgraduate students.
Fundamentals of Molecular Structural Biology reviews the mathematical and physical foundations of molecular structural biology. Based on these fundamental concepts, it then describes molecular structure and explains basic genetic mechanisms. Given the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of research, early career researchers and those shifting into an adjacent field often require a "fundamentals" book to get them up-to-speed on the foundations of a particular field. This book fills that niche.
Approach your problems from the It isn't that they can't see the end and begin with the answers. solution. It is that they can't Then one day, perhaps you will see the problem. find the final question. G.K. Chesterton. The Scandal of 'The Hermit Clad in Crane Father Brown 'The Point of a Pin'. Feathers' in R. van Gulik's The Chinese Maze Murders. Growing specialization and diversification have brought a host of mono graphs and textbooks on increasingly topics. However, the "tree" of knowledge of mathematics and related fields does not grow only by putting forth new branches. It also happens, quite often in fact, that branches which were thought to be completely disparate are suddenly seen to be related. Further, the kind and level of sophistication of mathematics applied in various sciences has changed drastically in recent years: measure theory is used (non-trivially) in regional and theoretical economics; algebraic geometry interacts with physics; the Minkowsky lemma, coding theory and the structure of water meet one another in packing and covering theory; quantum fields, crystal defects and mathematical pro gramming profit from homotopy theory; Lie algebras are relevant to filtering; and prediction and electric engineering can use Stein spaces. And in addition to this there are such new emerging subdisciplines as "complete integrable systems", "chaos, synergetics and large-scale order", which are almost impossible to fit into the existing classifica tion schemes. The draw upon widely different sections of mathematics.
This book provides an outline of theoretical concepts and their experimental verification in studies of self-organization phenomena in chemical systems, as they emerged in the mid-20th century and have evolved since. Presenting essays on selected topics, it was prepared by authors who have made profound contributions to the field. Traditionally, physical chemistry has been concerned with interactions between atoms and molecules that produce a variety of equilibrium structures - or the 'dead' order - in a stationary state. But biological cells exhibit a different 'living' kind of order, prompting E. Schrödinger to pose his famous question “What is life?” in 1943. Through an unprecedented theoretical and experimental development, it was later revealed that biological self-organization phenomena are in complete agreement with the laws of physics, once they are applied to a special class of thermodynamically open systems and non-equilibrium states. This knowledge has in turn led to the design and synthesis of simple inorganic systems capable of self-organization effects. These artificial 'living organisms' are able to operate on macroscopic to microscopic scales, even down to single-molecule machines. In the future, such research could provide a basis for a technological breakthrough, comparable in its impact with the invention of lasers and semiconductors. Its results can be used to control natural chemical processes, and to design artificial complex chemical processes with various functionalities. The book offers an extensive discussion of the history of research on complex chemical systems and its future prospects.
This book presents a novel molecular description for understanding the regulatory mechanisms behind the autonomy and self-organization in biological systems. Chapters focus on defining and explaining the regulatory molecular mechanisms behind different aspects of autonomy and self-organization in the sense of autonomous coding, data processing, structure (mass) formation and energy production in a biological system. Subsequent chapters discuss the cross-talk among mechanisms of energy, and mass and information, transformation in biological systems. Other chapters focus on applications regarding therapeutic approaches in regenerative medicine. Molecular Mechanisms of Autonomy in Biological Systems is an indispensable resource for scientists and researchers in regenerative medicine, stem cell biology, molecular biology, tissue engineering, developmental biology, biochemistry, biophysics, bioinformatics, as well as big data sciences, complexity and soft computing.
A must-have resource that covers everything from out-of-equilibrium chemical systems and materials to dissipative self-assemblies Out-of-Equilibrium Supramolecular Systems and Materials presents a comprehensive overview of the synthetic approaches that use supramolecular bonds in various out-of-thermodynamic equilibrium situations. With contributions from noted experts on the topic, the text contains information on the design of dissipative self-assemblies that maintain their structures when fueled by an external source of energy. The contributors also examine molecules and nanoscale objects and materials that can produce mechanical work based on molecular machines. Additionally, the book explores non-equilibrium supramolecular polymers that can be trapped in kinetically stable states, as well as out-of-equilibrium chemical systems and oscillators that are important to understand the emergence of complex behaviors and, in particular, the origin of life. This important book: Offers comprehensive coverage of fields from design of dissipative self-assemblies to non-equilibrium supramolecular polymers Presents information on a highly emerging and interdisciplinary topic Includes contributions from internationally renowned scientists Written for chemists, physical chemists, biochemists, material scientists, Out-of-Equilibrium Supramolecular Systems and Materials is an indispensable resource written by top scientists in the field.
