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Self-replicating molecules containing labile reversible covalent bonds are becoming increasingly topical. Yet their robustness to component exchange and the threat of loss of information has received very little attention. We show here that supramolecular interactions can efficiently protect self-replicating molecules from otherwise rapid component exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unravelling how the complexity of living systems can (have) emerge(d) from simple chemical reactions is one of the grand challenges in contemporary science. Evolving systems of self-replicating molecules may hold the key to this question. Here we show that, when a system of replicators is subjected to a regime where replication competes with replicator destruction, simple and fast replicators can give way to more complex and slower ones. The structurally more complex replicator was found to be functionally more proficient in the catalysis of a model reaction. These results show that chemical fueling can maintain systems of replicators out of equilibrium, populating more complex replicators that are otherwise not readily accessible. Such complexification represents an important requirement for achieving open-ended evolution as it should allow improved and ultimately also new functions to emerge., (© 2021 The Authors. Angewandte Chemie International Edition published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Making receptors to order: A small dynamic combinatorial library (DCL), formed from two dithiols in water, provides a continuous range of six receptors of different sizes. The majority of the 30 tested amines and ammonium ions amplified receptors from this library, thus spanning the complete receptor-size range and showing that this DCL provides a generic platform for the development of receptors for this important class of compounds., (Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Re catalysis in one-pot reactions: An atom-economical, one-pot strategy that involves alkyne deprotonation and a subsequent rhenium(V)-catalysed Meyer-Schuster rearrangement of the alkynol to provide α,ß-unsaturated enones in high yield has been developed (see scheme). Subsequent in situ hydride reduction or Diels-Alder reaction of the enones provided products in good-to-high overall yields., (Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)