Molecular Logic: Ways Forward

The development of molecules that process data befits our infor-mation age.[1–11] As people’s fascination with the internet and mobile communications grows, the transformational nature of computing on society is becoming clear. It is also dawning on people that their most personal computer sits between their ears. Some of the capabilities of this molecule-based miracle, e.g. person recognition, put the best silicon computers to shame. Learning to emulate aspects of both these machines within labo-ratory molecules is an enterprise ideally suited to chemists. The central idea here is that chemical reactions can be viewed as a reagent input joining with a substrate device resulting in an observable change as the output. The field of molecular logic has grown from small begin-nings to encompass workers from widely different places and backgrounds (Fig. 1). Herein lies the vibrancy of the field. Ho