Timing prebiotic RNA formation: Models for Earth′s impact history explain the late delivery of platinum, gold, and other siderophiles via a ∼10²³ kg impactor (Moneta) circa 4.48 billion years ago. The iron core from this impactor would have reduced the atmosphere above a relatively oxidized mantle, opening a window of opportunity for RNA precursor synthesis. Surprisingly, this suggests that RNA formation was most probable ∼4.36±0.1 billion years ago.

Reaction center: The self-assembly of block-copolymer micelles is coupled to a fuel-driven chemical reaction cycle. In their finite lifetime, the micelles are able to locally increase the concentration of reagents for a Diels-Alder reaction and drastically accelerate its rate. Thus, the kinetically controlled block copolymer micelles function as temporary nanoreactor.

Multivesicular vesicles (MVVs) are non-concentrically arranged vesicles-in-vesicle systems that can be prepared from bilayer-forming amphiphiles. Although spontaneous formation of MVVs is possible, these hierarchical structures are usually obtained by guided assembly in a variety of different manners. This Review explores the different methods that lead to the generation of MVVs, assessing their advantages and limitations, and discusses current applications for drug delivery and as artificial cell-like systems.

Grow and learn: A new active material system was achieved by using a mild redox reaction network to fuel the dissipative self-assembly of a disulfide-based hydrogelator. The mild redox reactions simultaneously cause self-assembled fibrils to grow and shrink, leading to transient, out-of-equilibrium dynamic behavior.

Conscious coupling of structure and function: A strategy based on biologically inspired low complexity protein domains to couple the formation of biomolecular liquid compartments with reactions occuring within them is described. We develop methods to characterize concentration, polarity, liquid-like properties and reaction rates within these compartments, showing that the local increase in enzyme concentration accelerates the corresponding enzymatic rate up to 5-fold. This flexible strategy enables the generation of biomolecular micro-reactors with enhanced reactivity and with potential applications in heterogeneous biocatalysis.

Across the board: Autocatalysis has broad importance ranging from photolithography to the origins of life. This Review covers all main aspects of autocatalysis. It introduces the kinetics of autocatalysis, describes mechanisms for the major classes of autocatalytic reactions, highlights the concept of autocatalytic reaction networks, proposes approaches for designing new autocatalytic systems, and discusses challenges and perspectives in the field of autocatalysis.

Keep it moving: The self-assembly of peptides into vesicles is coupled to a dynamic chemical reaction cycle. These vesicles emerge in response to fuel, and continuously remodel and decay when all fuel is depleted.

Open reaction centers: Droplet-based microfluidics allows the high-throughput synthesis and screening of populations of micron-sized coacervates with an unprecedented accuracy. The study of partition coefficients and sequestered reaction rates in these minimal synthetic organelles provides insights in the role of sub-compartmentalisation in regulating out-of-equilibrium behaviours in biological systems.

That's electric: We develop a scheme to train artificial neural networks (ANN) for molecular dynamics (MD), avoiding overfitting and reducing to a minimum the number of configurations used. An initial approximate model is trained on a small set of configurations and used to start the training loop. The training set is then iteratively augmented till the desired property becomes stationary. We test our scheme on solid-state electrolyte materials for battery applications, focusing on the evaluation of the diffusion coefficient.

Make and break: A chemically fuelled self-regulating dynamic system is designed that undergoes a pre-programmed gel-to-gel transition through successive covalent bond formation and rupture. We show that the final properties of the gel differ significantly from those of the gel obtained directly from the gelator in the absence of the fuel.

Multivesicular vesicles (MVVs) are non-concentrically arranged vesicles-in-vesicle systems that can be prepared from bilayer-forming amphiphiles. Although spontaneous formation of MVVs is possible, these hierarchical structures are usually obtained by guided assembly in a variety of different manners. This Review explores the different methods that lead to the generation of MVVs, assessing their advantages and limitations, and discusses current applications for drug delivery and as artificial cell-like systems.

Crown ether active template synthesis (CEATS) is a recently developed method for accessing rotaxanes using kinetic control. This makes it possible to produce thermodynamically disfavored rotaxanes by coupling their assembly with simple chemical reactions. CEATS has provided access to rotaxanes containing a wide variety of functionality and can be used as a mechanism to drive molecular pumps.

This review focused on a research approach for creating artificial molecular systems, comparable with natural cells, based on DNA nanotechnology. Cell-inspired functions in giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) were realized by utilizing sequence-designed DNAs for functional nanostructures and chemical reaction networks. This review described remarkable achievements that have been reported so far.

This review examines discoveries of biomolecular condensates as compartments in bacteria. Insights from bacterial cell biology and systems chemistry reveal intricate connections between chemical reactions and the control of condensate phase separation. Additionally, condensate properties illuminate simple chemical strategies for creating unique chemical environments with potential roles in evolutionary selection.

The Maxwell's Demon thought experiment creates nonequilibrium gradients, and underpins the molecular ratchet mechanisms that drive artificial motors and pumps. Lipid bilayers form membranes that closely mirror the compartments of Maxwell's Demon. This Concept Article addresses how ratchet mechanisms might be translated from the field of small-molecule machines to create artificial transmembrane pumps.

Metabolically active coacervates combine two important hallmarks of life: metabolism and compartmentalization. This work shows that a wide range of prebiotic metabolites can form complex coacervate protocells with oligoarginine. Prebiotically plausible conversions of the metabolites can give rise to active coacervate formation, are enhanced inside the coacervate microenvironment and can, in turn, affect the stability of the coacervate compartment.

Across the board: Autocatalysis has broad importance ranging from photolithography to the origins of life. This Review covers all main aspects of autocatalysis. It introduces the kinetics of autocatalysis, describes mechanisms for the major classes of autocatalytic reactions, highlights the concept of autocatalytic reaction networks, proposes approaches for designing new autocatalytic systems, and discusses challenges and perspectives in the field of autocatalysis.

Using a numerical model, we study how phase-separated compartments can influence chemical reactions. We show how the volume ratio (R) and partition coefficient (K_p) affect reaction rates in bimolecular reactions, and how coacervates can alter polymerization, self-replication, and oscillating networks. These findings suggest coacervates can direct reaction outcomes, with implications for the origins of life and (synthetic) biology.

Chemical Artificial Intelligence (CAI) devises liquid chemical systems that mimic some performances of biological and human intelligence. The systems, which often are inspired by neuronal nets, can assist humans in making decisions. The next grand challenge is to devise autonomous chemical systems that can colonize the molecular world with remarkable technological applications. CAI also promises to elucidate the mysterious event of life‘s appearance on Earth.

Photosensitive surfactants have gained increasing interest in colloidal science. So far, mostly azaobenzene surfactants have been investigated. In this perspective, we want to address the question, which characteristics ideal photosensitive surfactants should possess. With that, we want to give an outline, how photoswitchable surfactants may be designed, yielding novel, high-performance novel surface-active materials.