Chemical Complexity

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vii

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2. From Structure to Function: An Introduction

   • Alexander S. Mikhailov, Gerhard Ertl

   Pages 1-4

3. Thermodynamics of Open Systems

   • Alexander S. Mikhailov, Gerhard Ertl

   Pages 5-15

4. Self-assembly Phenomena

   • Alexander S. Mikhailov, Gerhard Ertl

   Pages 17-29

5. Self-organized Stationary Structures

   • Alexander S. Mikhailov, Gerhard Ertl

   Pages 31-45

6. Chemical Oscillations

   • Alexander S. Mikhailov, Gerhard Ertl

   Pages 47-67

7. Propagating Waves

   • Alexander S. Mikhailov, Gerhard Ertl

   Pages 69-87

8. The Belousov–Zhabotinsky Reaction

   • Alexander S. Mikhailov, Gerhard Ertl

   Pages 89-103

9. Catalytic Reactions at Solid Surfaces

   • Alexander S. Mikhailov, Gerhard Ertl

   Pages 105-124

10. Electrochemical Reactions

    • Alexander S. Mikhailov, Gerhard Ertl

    Pages 125-135

11. Design and Control of Self-organizing Chemical Systems

    • Alexander S. Mikhailov, Gerhard Ertl

    Pages 137-158

12. Systems with Interacting Particles and Soft Matter

    • Alexander S. Mikhailov, Gerhard Ertl

    Pages 159-180

13. Molecular Machines

    • Alexander S. Mikhailov, Gerhard Ertl

    Pages 181-202

14. Back Matter

    Pages 203-208

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This book provides an outline of theoretical concepts and their experimental verification in studies of self-organization phenomena in chemical systems, as they emerged in the mid-20th century and have evolved since. Presenting essays on selected topics, it was prepared by authors who have made profound contributions to the field.

Traditionally, physical chemistry has been concerned with interactions between atoms and molecules that produce a variety of equilibrium structures - or the 'dead' order - in a stationary state. But biological cells exhibit a different 'living' kind of order, prompting E. Schrödinger to pose his famous question “What is life?” in 1943. Through an unprecedented theoretical and experimental development, it was later revealed that biological self-organization phenomena are in complete agreement with the laws of physics, once they are applied to a special class of thermodynamically open systems and non-equilibrium states. This knowledge has in turn led tothe design and synthesis of simple inorganic systems capable of self-organization effects. These artificial 'living organisms' are able to operate on macroscopic to microscopic scales, even down to single-molecule machines.

In the future, such research could provide a basis for a technological breakthrough, comparable in its impact with the invention of lasers and semiconductors. Its results can be used to control natural chemical processes, and to design artificial complex chemical processes with various functionalities. The book offers an extensive discussion of the history of research on complex chemical systems and its future prospects.

• Active Propulsion on Microscales
• Chemical Networks
• Complex Chemical Systems
• Molecular Motors
• Nonequilibrium Dynamics in Reactive Systems
• Protein Machines
• Self-organization in Biological Cells
• Self-organizing Systems
• complexity
• systems biology

• Abteilung Physikalische Chemie, Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin, Germany

  Alexander S. Mikhailov, Gerhard Ertl

Gerhard Ertl received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2007 for his studies on heterogeneous catalysis and self-organization processes in surface chemical reactions.  He was the director of the Physical Chemistry department at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin, where he is currently a Professor Emeritus. Prof. Alexander S. Mikhailov, of the same institute, is a theoretical physicist who has been working with G. Ertl for more than twenty years. He is the author of three monographs published by Springer and was awarded the International Solvay Chair in Chemistry in 2009. Together, the authors initiated and organized a series of international conferences on "Engineering of Chemical Complexity".

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