The evolution of life from the prebiotic environment required a gradual process of chemical evolution towards greater molecular complexity. Elaborate prebiotically relevant synthetic routes to the building blocks of life have been established. However, it is still unclear how functional chemical systems evolved with direction using only the interaction between inherent molecular chemical reactivity and the abiotic environment. Here we demonstrate how complex systems of chemical reactions exhibit well-defined self-organization in response to varying environmental conditions. This self-organization allows the compositional complexity of the reaction products to be controlled as a function of factors such as feedstock and catalyst availability. We observe how Breslow’s cycle contributes to the reaction composition by feeding C₂ building blocks into the network, alongside reaction pathways dominated by formaldehyde-driven chain growth. The emergence of organized systems of chemical reactions in response to changes in the environment offers a potential mechanism for a chemical evolution process that bridges the gap between prebiotic chemical building blocks and the origin of life.

生命从前生命环境进化而来，需要一个逐步的化学进化过程，朝着更大的分子复杂性发展。已经建立了与生命组成部分有关的与益生元相关的详细合成路线。然而，目前尚不清楚功能化学系统是如何仅使用固有分子化学反应性与非生物环境之间的相互作用而随方向进化的。在这里，我们展示了复杂的化学反应系统如何在不同的环境条件下表现出明确的自组织。这种自组织允许反应产物的组成复杂性作为原料和催化剂可用性等因素的函数来控制。我们观察 Breslow 循环如何通过进料 C 对反应组成做出贡献_{网络中的2 个}构建块，以及以甲醛驱动的链增长为主的反应途径。响应环境变化的有组织的化学反应系统的出现为化学进化过程提供了一种潜在的机制，该过程弥合了益生元化学构件与生命起源之间的差距。