page_title: Self-organization
section_title: Chemistry
hierarchical_section_title: Self-organization / By field / Chemistry
caption_attribution_description: Self-Assembled DNA Nanostructures. (A) DNA “tile” structure consisting of four branched junctions oriented at 90° intervals. These tiles serve as the primary “building block” for the assembly of the DNA nanogrids shown in (B). Each tile consists of nine DNA oligonucleotides as shown. (B) An atomic force microscope image of a self-assembled DNA nanogrid. Individual DNA tiles self-assemble into a highly ordered periodic two-dimensional DNA nanogrid.
context_page_description: Self-organization, also called spontaneous order, is a process where some form of overall order arises from local interactions between parts of an initially disordered system. The process can be spontaneous when sufficient energy is available, not needing control by any external agent. It is often triggered by seemingly random fluctuations, amplified by positive feedback. The resulting organization is wholly decentralized, distributed over all the components of the system. As such, the organization is typically robust and able to survive or self-repair substantial perturbation. Chaos theory discusses self-organization in terms of islands of predictability in a sea of chaotic unpredictability.
  Self-organization occurs in many physical, chemical, biological, robotic, and cognitive systems. Examples of self-organization include crystallization, thermal convection of fluids, chemical oscillation, animal swarming, neural circuits.
context_section_description: Self-organization in chemistry includes molecular self-assembly, reaction–diffusion systems and oscillating reactions, autocatalytic networks, liquid crystals, grid complexes, colloidal crystals, self-assembled monolayers, micelles, microphase separation of block copolymers, and Langmuir–Blodgett films.
caption: The DNA structure shown schematically at left self-assembles into the structure at right.[29]
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