Chemistry and Computation

Abstract

The case is made for a molecular information science, especially with regard to chemical and biological contexts. A starting point is the fundamental input-output nature of (bio)chemical reactions. Many of the objections raised by critics coming from an electronic computing perspective are addressed. Several concepts arising in electronic computing can be recognized or put to work in molecular information processing. Molecular sensing comes at the simpler end of information processing and sets up several concepts, e.g. digital-analog relationships, which feed through into more complex devices.