Folding and replication in complex dynamic molecular networks

This thesis intends to capture the processes of self-replication and folding individually or combined by using dynamic combinatorial chemistry. This thesis is composed of 6 chapters, each of them dealing with a different aspect of folding and replication. In Chapter 1, we briefly introduced the basic concepts of systems chemistry and the origin of life. In order to mimic some of life’s important features and to achieve life-like behavior, it is particularly important to construct complex systems that combine the processes of self-replication and folding. In Chapter 2, we described how a dynamic combinatorial selection approach allows access to a foldamer of remarkable complexity constituted by 15 identical peptide-nucleobase building blocks. In Chapter 3, we reported the discovery of foldamers that form autonomously in aqueous media based on simple dipeptides using a systems chemistry approach. In Chapter 4, we described the emergence of self-replicating molecules that contain both amino acids and nucleobase from DCLs. In Chapter 5 we described for the first time the self-sorting between self-replicating and folded molecules in a DCL composed of two building blocks. Furthermore, we developed a transient self-replicating system using the same building blocks. Conclusions are drawn in Chapter 6.