Repurposing a Catalytic\nCycle for Transient Self-Assembly

Life operates out of equilibrium to enable various sophisticated\nbehaviors. Synthetic chemists have strived to mimic biological nonequilibrium\nsystems in such fields as autonomous molecular machines and dissipative\nself-assembly. Central to these efforts has been the development of\nnew chemical reaction cycles, which drive systems out of equilibrium\nby conversion of chemical fuel into waste species. However, the construction\nof reaction cycles has been challenging due to the difficulty of finding\ncompatible reactions that constitute a cycle. Here, we realize an\nalternative approach by repurposing a known catalytic cycle as a chemical\nreaction cycle for driving dissipative self-assembly. This approach\ncan overcome the compatibility problem because all steps involved\nin a catalytic cycle are already known to proceed concurrently under\nthe same conditions. Our repurposing approach is applicable to diverse\ncombinations of catalytic cycles and systems to drive out of equilibrium,\nwhich will substantially broaden the scope of out-of-equilibrium systems.