InDiA (Integrable and Differentiable Active) matter: Floating A perspective

Abstract

The de novo synthesis of artificial life, wherein, the knowledge of chemistry is availed for the pursuit of mimicking biological processes, has the potential to transform the universe and naturally has been a source of motivation for contemporary researchers. Now the most pertinent question arises, what are the primary requirements for synthesizing a living system, and what characteristics should the system possess for preserving life? A basic living system generally self-replicates, undergoes different catalytic metabolic pathways, maintains an away-from-equilibrium state, and sustains through evolution. Consequently like the universe, for the fabrication of life-like artificial systems, it is essential to design emergent out-of-equilibrium complex structures and this effectively calls on the emerging field of Systems Chemistry. In this review, we present the state-of-the-art in this field hitherto, which deploys chemical instabilities for tailoring far-from-equilibrium molecular machines operated by chemical fuels, non-equilibrium assembly-disassembly, chemical oscillators, and compartmentalized networks. Each of these systems requires a constant source of energy input to perpetuate the homeostatic properties. In an attempt to simulate these teleonomic characteristics of the biomotors, the concept of Active Matter research has been perceived which chemically fabricates autonomously propelling micro and nano-scale motors driven by various sources of energy like chemical fuels, light, temperature, magnetic, and electric fields. This review sets the stage to embrace the Systems Chemistry approach for the design of artificial life by embracing the evolution of strategies of Active Matter creation over the last two decades where the mechanisms and synthetic techniques have been improvised ushering in the advent of multi-step cascaded Active Matter. Taking a dynamical approach, in this review we have categorized Active Matter as Differentiable and Integrable. In the end, we present a futuristic outlook on how the InDiA Matter may serve as a potential pathway for creating artificial life and discuss the ongoing challenges underlying comprehending the physical interactions from the viewpoint of physics of active matter and Systems chemistry.