Go to Materials & Technology According to Jean Marie Lehn, supramolecular chemistry includes: "(1) supermolecules, well-defined, discrete oligomolecular species that result from the intermolecular association of a few components (a receptor and its substrate(s)) following a built-in "Aufbau" scheme based on the principles of molecular recognition; [and] (2) supramolecular assemblies, polymolecular entities that result from the spontaneous association of a large undefined number of components…" Lehn, Cram, and Pedersen received the Nobel prize in Chemistry in 1987 for their development and use of molecules with structure-specific interactions of high selectivity.

Any chemical system that exists at a higher level of complexity than individual molecules (multi-enzyme complexes, organelles, membranes).

More complex than a molecule; also : composed of many molecules