A complex system is a system with a large number of elements, building blocks, or agents, capable of exchanging stimuli with one another and with the environment. They can be identified by what they do, display organization without a central organizing authority-emergence, and also by how they may or may not be analyzed. In contrast to complicated systems, complex systems cannot be understood by simply analyzing their individual parts in isolation and can therefore not be strictly designed and engineered. This research project aims to use biology and structural-biology principles guiding the emergence of complex biological systems so as to elaborate fundamental principles required for the design and synthesis of programmed macromolecules (monodisperse, with precise and instructed primary structure) that will ultimately emerge into predictable complex molecular systems. Self-assembling dendrons and dendrimers will be employed as building blocks in these investigations. These building blocks will be used to (1) elaborate generational and deconstruction-design strategies for the discovery of new libraries of primary structures and supramolecular assemblies; (2) elaborate strategies to predict the primary structure that mediates the generation of a specific complex functional system; and (3) elucidate the principles and mechanisms for the emergence of complex molecular systems and generate their design principles.
Non-Technical Summary
Complex systems are characterized by adaptation, self-control, self-organization, memory -- they are emergent and evolving but cannot be designed and engineered. Examples of complex systems include highways, the internet, life, social and political organizations, financial and economic systems, most of the biological systems, some molecular chemical systems and selected chemical reactions. This research will transplant biological principles to synthetic molecular systems, elucidate their mechanism of assembly, and lead to design and engineering strategies for complex molecular systems. The lessons learned from complex molecular systems are expected to apply to other complex systems. Immediate applications should generate efficient strategies to solar energy conversion and other technological issues of broad and daily concern. This program will provide mechanisms to educate undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students at the frontiers and interfaces of molecular, biological, and physical sciences with other complex systems and societal concerns. This research also includes a number of broadly based collaborations.
