Bioinspired organic chemistry

Abstract

This annual report reviews a selection of contributions from researchers in the field of organic chemistry broadly interpreted, which take inspiration from biomolecular systems. The report is divided in four sections: the first three sections discuss progresses in organic chemistry inspired by the major classes of biomolecules: nucleic acids, proteins and lipids. The fourth section, subtitled Systems Chemistry, was introduced for the first time last year and is devoted to organic chemistry inspired by the complexity of biomolecular systems. Although it was originally applied to self-replicating chemical systems and dynamic combinatorial libraries, the term Systems chemistry is now being applied to the study of the emerging properties within complex systems. The reader will notice that the manipulation of emerging properties of increasingly complex systems is implicit in much of the chemistry described in this report.