For certain biological functions, such as creating cell membranes from lipids, passive, thermodynamically driven molecular assembly processes may be sufficient. However, advanced biological machinery-such as controlling ion flux, cell shape, cell division, and protein folding-requires continuous energy dissipation in a kinetic regime to achieve the desired functions . Furthermore, self-organization under dissipative conditions appears to be essential for selection, adaptation, and evolution. Thus, it is considered the driving force of complexity, capable of transforming inanimate matter into living organisms . Examples of artificial dissipative systems include chemical reaction cycles based on dimethyl sulfate , carbodiimide and ATP hydrolysis as well as redox reactions involving dithionite and thiol oxidation . In some cases, these systems exhibit selfreplication abilities and selection behavior. Pt(II) complexes have a high tendency to self-organize into luminescent structures, with emission colors dependent on the establishment of Pt•••Pt metallophilic interactions . These characteristics make them valuable as a probe for supramolecular polymerization processes, since tiny changes in molecular packing can shift the emission color from red to blue, 30 which enables real-time visualization of multiple kinetic and thermodynamic pathways . Inspired by dissipative systems, we attempted to switch the passive equilibrium and selforganization of Pt(II) complexes into an active process by coupling it with a redox reaction to observe if this leads to life-like behavior. The self-organization tendency of the Pt(II) complex 1 can be suppressed by oxidizing it with PhICl2 (see ESI), resulting in the formation of the 35 corresponding octahedral Pt(IV) complex 2 (see ESI for characterization), which has two chloride ions coordinated in the axial positions (see Fig. ) as confirmed by single crystal XRD (see ESI S8) . The Pt(IV) complex 2 is a non-emissive species and, due to its octahedral geometry, shows better solubility than complex 1 with no tendency to aggregate. We can consider complex 2 as a "protected" monomer since the initiation of the self-organization process requires a redox reaction to revert it to complex 1. When a solution of complex 2 in THF or ACN (2.6*10 -2 M) is mixed with an equal volume of an aqueous solution of a reducing agent (5.2*10 -2 M, 2 eq.) such as sodium ascorbate (a), sodium dithionite (b), or glutathione (GSH) (c), luminescent gels (G1, G2) are formed. The emission colors of these gels are primarily influenced by solvent polarity rather than the reducing agent used (see Table and S9-S24 for photophysical properties). The obtained gels remain stable to the inversion of the test tube (Fig. ) for days post-synthesis. However, heating G1 to 70 °C (25 min), or sonicating it (5 min), irreversibly destroys the gel, with consequent loss of its mechanical properties, and producing the thermodynamic product D1 (Fig. ). D1 consists in blue-green emissive fibers (λem,max = 497 nm), indicating weaker metallophilic interactions similar to previously reported systems . Interestingly, G2 retains its properties indefinitely when heated to 70 °C. However, allowing G2 to sit at room temperature for two weeks after sonication results in the formation of D1, as confirmed by absorption and emission spectra (Fig. , 2B, S25-S30 for photophysical properties). The transformation of the kinetic product into the thermodynamic one can also be observed in real time by fluorescence microscopy (Supplementary Movie S1). Thus, by combining preformed 20 fibers in kinetic and thermodynamic state in a THF/H2O mixture (1:1), and taking a snapshot every 5 min, it is observed the gradual conversion of the orange fibers into the blue-green ones over a 2 h 30 min period. More details on the effect of the solvent on the self-assembly pathway dynamics have been reported in detail .