Chemists have invented a nanoscale wrench that allows them to precisely control nanoscale shapes. Their use of ‘chirality-assisted synthesis’ is a fundamentally new approach to shaping large molecules — one of the foundational needs for making complex synthetic materials, including new polymers and medicines.
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CrazyNeutrino said:
Scientists build wrench 1.7 nanometers wide, a new Tool that allows fundamentally new way to control the shape of moleculesChemists have invented a nanoscale wrench that allows them to precisely control nanoscale shapes. Their use of ‘chirality-assisted synthesis’ is a fundamentally new approach to shaping large molecules — one of the foundational needs for making complex synthetic materials, including new polymers and medicines.
Ignore the darn “chirality” padding in the article. The authors have manage to piece together a minimally simple rigid C-shape molecule for possibly the first time. The rigidity comes from the planar rigidity of six-membered aromatics. Three of these together form anthracene, and two nitrogens are substituted for carbon in the middle ring. These aromatics form each side of the hexagon, and are connected together at the corners by a molecule (that I ought to know) that has rigid 3-fold symmetry. The construction is modular, four identical molecules, each with a corner with a benzene ring on each of two sides and ended by a nitrogen group self-assemble into a C-shape.
The resulting C-shape (like a wrench) can hold onto a medium-size hexagonal molecule (like a nut) which can itself hold on to smaller molecules.
> Anthracene
> that I ought to know.
Bicyclooctane