The Beginning of Systems Chemistry

Abstract

Systems Chemistry has its roots in the research on the autocatalytic self-replication of biological macromolecules, first of all of synthetic deoxyribonucleic acids. A personal tour through the early works of the founder of Systems Chemistry, and of his first followers, recalls what’s most important in this new era of chemistry: the growth and evolution of compartmented macromolecular populations, when provided with “food„ and “fuel„ and disposed of “waste„.

Keywords

• population growth
• replication
• growth order
• Darwinian evolution
• selection