Combining soft matter and soft chemistry: integrative chemistry towards designing novel and complex multiscale architectures

Abstract

There is today a strong and emerging commitment toward designing complex and hierarchical architectures. In this context, great interest is appearing in the combination of soft chemistry and complex fluids. In any circumstance we can see that there is a strong affinity between soft chemistry and soft matter as they can interact together without disrupting their own function. For instance, a continuous network should emerge from the former while the latter should promote patterning effects. In this general context, the new concept of integrative chemistry is proposed as well as its principle and main perspectives.