Autocatalysis and chemical amplification are properties of living systems that can lead to increased responsiveness and to self-replication. Here we describe a synthetic system in which a unique form of reagent compartmentalization gives rise to nonlinear kinetics that are subject to the precise size- and shape-selectivity of the host. The reactivity is reminiscent of autocatalytic behaviour¹, in which there is no direct contact between reagents and products, and our approach offers a general way to impose complex chemical behaviour onto synthetic systems.

1. Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037, USA
2. Department of Chemistry, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708-0346, USA
3. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76019-0065, USA

Correspondence to: e-mail: Email: jrebek@scripps.edu