The first step in synthetic biology is the addition of potential energy to matter, the reduction of an oxide, the separation of a salt into its radicals, the production of some endothermic chemical combination.
"The Mechanism of Life"
Stéphane Leduc
"They affect chemical action, retarding it greatly in exothermic actions, speeding greatly endothermic actions," answered X-6221, the greatest of the chemist-investigators.
"The Last Evolution"
John Wood Campbell