Chemical Reactions in Living Systems

The term in vivo (in the living) chemistry refers to chemical reactions that take place in a complex living system such as cells, tissue, body liquids, or even in an entire organism. In contrast, reactions that occur generally outside living organisms in an artificial environment (e.g., in a test tube) are referred to as in vitro. Over the past decades, significant contributions have been made in this rapidly growing field of in vivo chemistry, but it is still not fully understood, which transformations proceed efficiently without the formation of by-products or how product formation in such complex environments can be characterized. Potential applications can be imagined that synthesize drug molecules directly within the cell or confer new cellular functions through controlled chemical transformations that will improve the understanding of living systems and develop new therapeutic strategies. The guiding principles of this contribution are twofold: 1) Which chemical reactions can be translated from the laboratory to the living system? 2) Which characterization methods are suitable for studying reactions and structure formation in complex living environments? Reactions are often carried out in a controlled laboratory environment using purified chemicals, but in recent years, there has been a shift to carrying out reactions directly in living organisms, known as in vivo chemistry. This approach provides a unique opportunity to study and intervene in biological processes or drug release in real time, in their natural environment.image

Automated summary

In vivo chemistry refers to chemical reactions taking place within living systems, such as cells, tissues, or the entire organism, while in vitro reactions occur in artificial environments outside living organisms, like test tubes. It is essential to understand which reactions can efficiently occur without producing by-products and how product formation can be characterized in complex living environments. In vivo chemistry offers potential applications in synthesizing drug molecules within cells and enhancing the understanding of living systems and therapeutic strategies. Two guiding principles in this field are identifying translatable chemical reactions from the laboratory to living systems and selecting suitable methods to study reactions and structure formation in complex living environments.