Dec 3, 2024 10:04 PM
(This post was last modified: Dec 3, 2024 10:07 PM by C C.)
RELATED (FreeThink): The big problems driving nanotech development
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Controlling matter at the atomic level: University of Bath breakthrough
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1066815
INTRO: Physicists are getting closer to controlling single-molecule chemical reactions – could this shape the future of pharmaceutical research? Controlling matter at the atomic level has taken a major step forward, thanks to groundbreaking nanotechnology research by an international team of scientists led by physicists at the University of Bath.
This advancement has profound implications for fundamental scientific understanding. It is also likely to have important practical applications, such as transforming the way researchers develop new medications.
Controlling single-outcome single-molecule reactions is now almost routine in research laboratories across the world. For example, over a decade ago, researchers from the technology giant IBM showcased their ability to manipulate individual atoms by creating A boy and his atom, the world's smallest movie. In the film, single molecules, consisting of two atoms bonded together, were magnified 100-million times and positioned frame-by-frame to tell a stop-motion story on an atomic scale.
Achieving control over chemical reactions with multiple outcomes, however, has remained elusive. This matters because generally only some outcomes of a chemical reaction are useful. For instance, during drug synthesis, a chemical process that results in ‘cyclisation’ produces the desired therapeutic compound, however ‘polymerisation’, another outcome, leads to unwanted byproducts.
Being able to precisely control reactions to favour desired outcomes and reduce unwanted byproducts promises to improve the efficiency and sustainability of pharmaceutical processes.
The new study, published today in the prestigious journal Nature Communications, set out to demonstrate for the first time that competing chemical reaction outcomes can be influenced by using the atomic resolution of a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM)... (MORE - details, no ads)
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Controlling matter at the atomic level: University of Bath breakthrough
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1066815
INTRO: Physicists are getting closer to controlling single-molecule chemical reactions – could this shape the future of pharmaceutical research? Controlling matter at the atomic level has taken a major step forward, thanks to groundbreaking nanotechnology research by an international team of scientists led by physicists at the University of Bath.
This advancement has profound implications for fundamental scientific understanding. It is also likely to have important practical applications, such as transforming the way researchers develop new medications.
Controlling single-outcome single-molecule reactions is now almost routine in research laboratories across the world. For example, over a decade ago, researchers from the technology giant IBM showcased their ability to manipulate individual atoms by creating A boy and his atom, the world's smallest movie. In the film, single molecules, consisting of two atoms bonded together, were magnified 100-million times and positioned frame-by-frame to tell a stop-motion story on an atomic scale.
Achieving control over chemical reactions with multiple outcomes, however, has remained elusive. This matters because generally only some outcomes of a chemical reaction are useful. For instance, during drug synthesis, a chemical process that results in ‘cyclisation’ produces the desired therapeutic compound, however ‘polymerisation’, another outcome, leads to unwanted byproducts.
Being able to precisely control reactions to favour desired outcomes and reduce unwanted byproducts promises to improve the efficiency and sustainability of pharmaceutical processes.
The new study, published today in the prestigious journal Nature Communications, set out to demonstrate for the first time that competing chemical reaction outcomes can be influenced by using the atomic resolution of a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM)... (MORE - details, no ads)