Programmed chemical systems: multiple subprograms and multiple processing/expression of molecular information

Programmed chemical systems rest on the structural information stored in a molecular framework and on its reading and processing through non-covalent interactional algorithms to yield specific supramolecular entities. Beyond single-code self-assembly, which generates exclusively a single, specific superstructure, several codes may be implemented in the same overall program, thus opening the possibility to perform multiprogramming. Furthermore, the reading and processing of the same structural information through different interactional algorithms may lead to several different output entities, amounting to multiple expression of molecular information. Such features are revealed in the formation of double helicates, the assembly of metallosupramolecular architectures, and the differential reading of hydrogen bonding patterns in a molecular strand. They open novel perspectives within the framework of programmed chemical systems, concerning multiple processing capacity, and have intriguing implications from the biological point of view.