Integrated Catalytic System

We develop the hypothesis that the future of catalysis lies in bio-inspired integrated catalytic systems that exhibit life-like properties and offer a five-step process for achieving this goal: designing biocatalysts, combining them into complex catalytic networks, coupling these reaction networks to energy modules, compartmentalising these networks, and finally endowing them with Darwinian properties. Unlike natural complex reaction networks, synthetic chemical processes frequently cannot function under favourable or mild conditions. This Perspective sketches a biologically based future of industrial catalysis and offers a road map for bio-inspired integrated catalytic systems for chemical manufacturing.