The seeds our work ripened from were spread in the late 2016. At that time the editorial board of Nature Nanotechnology raised the need “to connect supramolecular chemistry to the out-of-equilibrium thermodynamic concepts being developed by theoretical physicists”, since “a firm grasp of the physical chemistry of out-of-equilibrium systems” was lacking [Nature Nanotech. 11, 909].
Meanwhile Massimiliano and Riccardo (my two co-authors) had already embarked on establishing a rigorous theoretical framework describing thermodynamics of open chemical reaction networks, beyond the typical close-to-equilibrium assumption and in terms of macroscopic concentrations [Phys. Rev X 6, 041064]. Actually, that paper was one of the reasons why I decided to apply for a PhD in Luxembourg University!
Despite the fertile ground, germination only started in the spring of 2018 during a conversation with Dr. Giulio Ragazzon. He was working together with Prof. Leonard Prins on chemical fuel-driven self-assembly in supramolecular chemistry [Nature Nanotech. 13, 882], where high-energy molecules can accumulate because energy get consumed (see figure). From the point of view adopted in our group, they were dealing with open chemical reaction networks where work is performed to induce a time-dependent change in the species abundances that could never be reached at equilibrium. In other words, the first stroke of a chemical engine!
By
looking
at open chemical reaction networks
as chemical engines it
became clear that we could use our theory
to analyze
and optimize
their performance. Following
on
the heels
of early thermodynamics for
steam engines, we
developed
general
and
quantitative notions
of efficiency and
work
valid
for any dissipative chemical process.
We
used
them to analyze
two paradigmatic
models
inspired by supramolecular chemistry: energy storage – the time
dependent accumulation
of high energy species far from equilibrium – and driven synthesis
– the continuous
endergonic
assembly
and
extraction
of monomers
which
scarcely
bind
at equilibrium. For
this latter,
we found
working conditions in which the system simultaneously
maximizes efficiency and power, a very rare condition in the
macroscopic world which may reveal
a keystone in nature.
Since many of the functionalities of organisms are ultimately powered by chemical reactions, we hope that the fruits of our work will be helpful for system biology. Cells can indeed be thought of as highly evolved chemical engines which burn some fuel (usually ATP) to perform operations such as maintaining a nonequilibrium state or assembling molecules affording moving (e.g. microtubules) and other tasks.
The way towards a proper understanding of energy processing in biology and the development of new generations of chemically designed engines lies at the interface between physics, chemistry and biology. For this reason, we wrote the manuscript using a language accessible to people from different backgrounds: we believe that crossbreeding activities among various communities are important to make the field of dissipative chemistry a more and more blooming one.
The work was funded by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) and the European Research Council (ERC) project NanoThermo. I am also extremely thankful to Michela Bernini and Mitch Woodensteel for their artistic interpretation of our research in the poster image!
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