Nonequilibrium steady states, ratchets, and kinetic asymmetry

Life relies on chemical networks being maintained out of equilibrium, but only recently have developments in the fields of synthetic molecular motors, energy requiring self-assembly, and mechanically bonded molecules been leveraged to provide deeper understanding of non-equilibrium chemistry. In a recent paper in Chem, Leigh and co-workers describe investigations on the role of kinetic asymmetry in non-equilibrium pumping and experimentally test the prediction of the non-equilibrium pumping equality, and Aprahamian and Goldup, in a Perspective in J. Am. Chem. Soc., discuss how kinetic asymmetry is key to understanding catalysis-driven non-equilibrium steady states.