Related papers: Catalysis from the bottom-up
Catalysis, the acceleration of product formation by a substance that is left unchanged, typically results from multiple elementary processes, including diffusion of the reactants toward the catalyst, chemical steps, and release of the…
In chemistry, a catalyst is a substance which enables a chemical reaction or increases its rate, while remaining unchanged in the process. Instead of chemical reactions, quantum catalysis enhances our ability to convert quantum states into…
Catalysts open up new reaction pathways that can speed up chemical reactions while not consuming the catalyst. A similar phenomenon has been discovered in quantum information science, where physical transformations become possible by…
At stationary environmental conditions, a catalyst's reaction rates may be restricted by thermodynamic laws, and certain performances can never be achieved (e.g., catalysts can not change the free energy difference between reactants and…
Catalysts speed up chemical reactions with no energy input and without being transformed in the process, therefore leaving equilibrium constants unchanged. Some catalysts, however, are much more efficient at accelerating one direction of a…
Catalysis lies at the heart of chemical reactivity, yet its foundational principles remain fragmented across the distinct domains of homogeneous, heterogeneous, and enzymatic systems Here, we propose a unifying theoretical model that…
We have a general knowledge of the principles by which catalysts accelerate the rate of chemical reactions but no precise understanding of the geometrical and physical constraints to which their design is subject. To analyze these…
Catalysis plays a key role in many scientific areas, most notably in chemistry and biology. Here we present a catalytic process in a paradigmatic quantum optics setup, namely the Jaynes-Cummings model, where an atom interacts with an…
Enzymes are nano-scale machines that have evolved to drive chemical reactions out of equilibrium in the right place at the right time. Given the complexity and specificity of enzymatic function, bottom-up design of enzymes presents a…
Oscillatory chemical reactions are functional components in a variety of biological contexts. In chemistry, the construction and identification of even rudimentary oscillators remain elusive and lack a general framework. Using…
Autocatalysis is a fundamental concept, used in a wide range of domains. From the most general definition of autocatalysis, that is a process in which a chemical compound is able to catalyze its own formation, several different systems can…
Understanding the fundamental limits of state convertibility is crucial for establishing the boundaries of quantum information processing and thermodynamic efficiency. While auxiliary systems, catalysts, can facilitate otherwise impossible…
We investigate catalysis in the framework of elementary thermal operations, leveraging the distinct features of such operations to illuminate catalytic dynamics. As groundwork, we establish new technical tools that enhance the computability…
The apparent difficulty of designing simple autocatalysts that grow exponentially in the absence of enzymes, external drives or ingenious internal mechanisms severely constrains scenarios for the emergence of evolution by natural selection…
Enzyme-catalysed reactions involve two distinct timescales. There is a short timescale on which enzymes bind to substrate molecules to produce bound complexes, and a comparatively long timescale on which the complex is transformed into a…
Every mathematical model describing physical phenomena is an approximation to model reality, hence has its limitations. Depending on characteristic values of the variables in the model, different aspects of the model and, e.g.,…
Conformational changes are observed in many enzymes, but their role in catalysis is highly controversial. Here we present a theoretical model that illustrates how rigid catalysts can be fundamentally limited and how a conformational change…
Background: Autocatalytic sets are often considered a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for the origin and early evolution of life. Although the idea of autocatalytic sets was already conceived of many years ago, only recently have…
We show how entanglement can be used, without being consumed, to accomplish unitary operations that could not be performed with out it. When applied to infinitesimal transformations our method makes equivalent, in the sense of Hamiltonian…
Explaining the origin of life requires us to explain how self-replication arises. To be specific, how can a self-replicating entity develop spontaneously from a chemical reaction system in which no reaction is self-replicating? Previously…