Many people believe that life involves something else apart from chemistry. This is a piece of speculation that I will ignore since I know nothing about it. The above chemical definition of life actually imposes severe limits on where life can be expected. Life on Earth is made up of complex molecules based on Carbon . This is no accident.
Carbon is the only atom capable of forming large complex molecules.
The chemistry of carbon compounds is called Organic Chemistry . The chemical reactions of life are subtle and complex. Let us look at the conditions necessary for complex chemical reactions to occur. In solids the molecules are held together in fixed positions relative to each other. In gases the molecules are flying around free of each other.