1. Supramolecular chemistry of living matter

Supramolecular systems are crucial to the evolution and adaptation of living systems, and what we might call the biological machinery relies heavily on these principles of recognition and self-organization. The chemistry of life is extremely complex, involving macromolecules, covalent entities, or supermolecules, supramolecular assemblies of several covalent entities. The extreme complexity of these supramolecular systems, in terms of both structure and function, has long fascinated and inspired researchers. In this section, we discuss a few simple examples that illustrate both the diversity and complexity of supramolecular systems in biology.