Dynamic modulation of external conditions can transform chemistry into logic gates

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel method for converting chemical reactions into logical gates by dynamically controlling external conditions in an open-loop manner, demonstrated on autocatalytic reactions and applicable to biological systems.

Contribution

It introduces a new open-loop dynamic regulation technique to transform chemical systems into logical operators, demonstrated on the Selkov-Gray-Scott model.

Findings

Successfully transformed a cubic autocatalytic reaction into a NAND-gate.

Demonstrated the method's potential for biological and other chemical systems.

Provided a simple didactic model to illustrate the approach.

Abstract

We introduce a new method for transforming chemical systems into desired logical operators (e.g. NAND-gates) or similar signal-manipulation components. The method is based upon open-loop dynamic regulation, where external conditions such as feed-rate, lighting conditions, etc. are modulated according to a prescribed temporal sequence that is independent of the input to the network. The method is first introduced using a simple didactic model. We then show its application in transforming a well-stirred cubic autocatalytic reaction (often referred to as the Selkov-Gray-Scott model) into a logical NAND-gate. We also comment on the applicability of the method to biological and other systems.