Self-Assembled Organic Nanotubes: A Novel Platform for Drug Design and Discovery

Self-assembly and self-organization processes are the thread that connects the reductionism of chemical reactions to the complexity and emergence of a living dynamic system. Artificial self-assembly derives its principles from nature and its processes, and uses this understanding to design nanoscale devices with predefined function. However, complex forms of organized matter cannot be synthesized bond-by-bond. Rather, a new type of synthesis based on noncovalent forces is necessary to generate functional entities from the bottom up. This growing field of the chemical sciences challenges much of the basic premises of conventional Woodwardian chemistry: The conceptualization of an organized state of matter requires in-depth understanding not only of chemical reactivity but also of noncovalent forces necessary to translate chemical information into functional superstructures.