Why study Supramolecular Chemistry?

Supramolecular chemistry has received much focus from the scientific world in recent years and Nobel prizes have been given out to scientists who have made significant contributions in this field but what is so important about supramolecular chemistry? There are a million reasons why supramolecular chemistry is being studied but the most biggest reason of all is to gain an understanding of how life functions on a molecular level.

Every biochemical reaction in the world is fundamentally based on supramolecular chemistry. The most pertinent example of supramolecular chemistry is the selective binding of oxygen by haemoglobin. Other examples include enzymes, plant photosynthesis, DNA, neurotransmitters, the immune system and hormones.

This leads to the design of modern drugs that are highly discriminative at the molecular level which would only react with the target and at the same time minimize side effects. With the birth of nanotechnology, supramolecular components can be grafted on nanobots and consumed to perform certain functions in the body.

The potential of supramolecular chemistry is endless but what we know now is minuscule. We can only replicate biological systems with models due to synthetic limitations. For example, we can only make a monomer in a peptide chain or the functional component of an enzyme. 100% replication of biological system may only become possible with the development of smaller and more precise machines.