Summary Every problem in computing can be cast as decision problems of whether strings are in a language or not. Computations and language recognition are carried out by three classes of automata, the most complex of which is the Turing machine. Living systems compute using biochemistry; in the artificial, computation today is mostly electronic. Thinking of chemical reactions as molecular recognition machines, and without using biochemistry, we realize one automaton in each class by means of one-pot, table top chemical reactors: from the simplest, Finite automata, to the most complex, Turing machines. Language acceptance/rejection criteria by automata can be formulated using energy considerations. Our Turing machine uses the Belousov-Zhabotinsky chemical reaction and checks the same symbol in an Avogadro′s number of processors. Our findings have implications for chemical and general computing, artificial intelligence, bioengineering, the study of the origin and presence of life on other planets, and for artificial biology.

Amphiphilic block-copolymer vesicles are increasingly used for medical and chemical applications, and a novel method for their transient self-assembly orchestrated by periodically generated radicals during the oscillatory Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction was recently developed. Here we report how combining this one pot polymerization-induced selfassembly (PISA) method with a continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR) strategy allows for continuous and reproducible control of both the PISA process and the chemical features (e.g. the radical generation and oscillation) of the entrapped cargo. By appropriately tuning the residence time (τ), target degree of polymerization (DP) and the BZ reactants, intermediate self-assembly structures are also obtained (micelles, worms and nano-sized vesicles). Simultaneously, the chemical properties of the cargo at encapsulation are known and tunable, a key advantage over batch operation. Finally, we also show that BZ-driven polymerization in CSTR additionally supports more non-periodic dynamics such as bursting.

Noise applied to a specific reactant feed rate directs the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction into specific pathways and results in noise-controlled oscillation shapes and features.