Abstract
Chemical reaction networks (CRNs) – cascades of chemical reactions where products of one reaction influence the rate of another reaction – are important in many fields of natural sciences. CRNs orchestrate cellular metabolism and guide the growth and movement of cells and multicellular organisms in heterogeneous environments. The chapter emphasizes two important conclusions from phenomenological nonequilibrium thermodynamics for the design of CRNs: quantitative requirements for the free energy of reactions and the importance of using open chemical systems. It considers two fundamental laws governing CRNs: mass conservation that results in stoichiometric restrictions and mass action. The stoichiometry significantly restricts the number of ways that concentrations of compounds can change during reactions. Continuously stirred tank reactor is the most common type of flow reactor employed in experimental studies. The current synthetic CRNs, the networks that are supposed to regulate artificial cells and smart therapeutic agents, are incomparable in their complexity to cellular regulatory networks.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Out‐of‐Equilibrium (Supra)molecular Systems and Materials |
Publisher | John Wiley and Sons |
Pages | 91-130 |
Number of pages | 40 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9783527821990 |
ISBN (Print) | 9783527346158 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 19 Apr 2021 |
Funding
Publisher Copyright: © 2021 WILEY-VCH GmbH, Boschstr. 12, 69469 Weinheim, Germany.