Evolution of Complex Chemical Mixtures Reveals Combinatorial Compression and Population Synchronicity

Some of the most interesting open questions about the origins of life and molecular sciences center on chemical evolution and the spontaneous generation of complex and functional chemical species. The processes that generated the spectacular biopolymers that underlay biology demonstrate an untapped, by modern science, creative potential. We have established a robust, facile, and generally applicable platform for observing and analyzing chemical evolution using complex mixtures. While previous studies have characterized the formation of proto-polymers via chemical reactions, we systematically studied the process itself. We report empirical outcomes that were not foreseen or predicted. We have constructed an experimental platform to study the evolution of chemical systems that: (i) undergoes continuous recursive change with transitions to new chemical spaces while not converging throughout the course of the experiment, (ii) demonstrates chemical selection, during which combinatorial explosion is avoided, (iii) maintains synchronicity of molecular sub-populations, and (iv) harvests environmental energy that is stored in chemical energy. We have established some general guidelines for conducting chemical evolution. Our results suggest that chemical evolution can be adapted to produce a broad array of molecules with novel structures and functions.