Non-covalent forces are weak when they act individually; however, in a well-orchestrated interplay of dozens, they become relevant and can yield astonishing results. The understanding and use of non-cova-lent forces for the creation of func-tional entities is the playground of supramolecular chemistry – a highly interdisciplinary and timely field of research. Herein we summarize the research efforts of the three junior research groups in the department of Organic Chemistry at the University of Duisburg-Essen. The three groups focus on different aspects of supra-molecular chemistry ranging from materials science (AG Giese), to bio-medical research (AG Voskuhl), to the development of functional enti-ties connected via mechanical bonds (AG Niemeyer). After a short intro-duction to the world of non-covalent forces, the recent research efforts of the Giese group towards a modular design for smart materials are pre-sented. Like the colourful toy bricks from Denmark, a series of molecular building blocks allows the creation of a plethora of structures, which can reversibly change their orienta-tion. The properties of the resulting materials can be switched by irradia-tion with light, temperature changes or the exposure to chemical com-pounds. The research of the Voskuhl group focuses on biomedical applica-tions and uses a complex interplay of non-covalent forces to infiltrate biological cells with fluorescent molecules – a technique which is interesting as a diagnosis tool as well as for therapeutic applications. The Niemeyer group creates novel cata-lytic entities through the employ-ment of mechanical bonds. Thereby, the mechanical bond supports the cooperativity of the sub-components and increases the efficiency of cata-lytical systems – a first step towards a new design for catalysts.