Abstract
Autocatalysis and chemical amplification are properties of living systems that can lead to increased responsiveness and to self-replication. Here we describe a synthetic system in which a unique form of reagent compartmentalization gives rise to nonlinear kinetics that are subject to the precise size- and shape-selectivity of the host. The reactivity is reminiscent of autocatalytic behaviour1, in which there is no direct contact between reagents and products, and our approach offers a general way to impose complex chemical behaviour onto synthetic systems.
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Chen, J., Körner, S., Craig, S. et al. Amplification by compartmentalization. Nature 415, 385–386 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/415385b
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/415385b
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