Chemical systems, chemical contiguity and the emergence of life

• Terrence P. Kee and
• Pierre-Alain Monnard

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1551–1563, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.155

• apparatuses. We will summarize the recent advances in system chemistry and show that chemical systems in the geochemical context imply a form of chemical contiguity in the syntheses of the various molecules that precede modern biomolecules. Keywords: chemical contiguity; chemical systems; geochemical

• relation to a specific geochemical environment. It also encompasses an important, often neglected, dimension: the fact that mixtures of disparate molecular classes imply a certain chemical contiguity in their syntheses. From the point of view of chemical research, a systems approach has, however, one

• rates are key drivers of synthetic chemistry, those drivers for prebiotic systems chemistry appear to be less important than integration, contiguity, auto-catalysis and periodicity. In this short article, we will first attempt at defining chemical systems and chemical contiguity. Then, using recent