Over a quarter of a century’s worth of effort has finally
come to fruition at the University of Manchester. Affectionately known as the
‘Star of David Molecule’, the beautiful interwoven threads of atoms represent a
physical feat that scientists only years ago may have dismissed as impossible.
Image Credit: University of Manchester
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The prospect of
manually finessing strings of atoms around one another into such a precise
configuration seems, even now, like the stuff of science fiction. And yet
despite the odds, PhD student Alex Stephans has managed to create the beautiful
interlocking molecule, and he did it by taking advantage of a quirk of chemical
physics that the microscopic world of biology has known about for billions of
years.
The trick to creating such delicate molecular structures, it
turns out, is to allow them to do it themselves. Instead of trying to wrap the
interlocking triangles around one another manually, as chemists of the past
have tried (and utterly failed) to do, Stephans took advantage of a process
known to biologists as self-assembly.
“Nature does the same thing to assemble DNA,” said David
Leigh, lead researcher and professor of Chemistry. "Most have tried to take linear
molecules and twist them around each other, but we
choose our building blocks very care
fully."
The atoms involved were carefully chosen for their
affinities for one another, so that the tiny interlocking triangles would fall
into place as the molecule formed, driven by the same subatomic forces that had
made such a structure virtually impossible in the past.
Although it may superficially seem like nothing more than a trivial
exercise in scientific peacocking, the molecule may have some far-reaching
implications. “When you look at viruses, some of their shells have these
coatings made of a sort of chainmail of protein, and it's very tough but very
light," says Leigh. "So the thinking is that if you could do the same
thing with a man-made molecule, you could get those same benefits."
The research team hopes to use the self-assembly method to
create even more complex molecules that might someday be used in what they call
“molecular chainmail”. A material made out of such structures would be
extremely lightweight, flexible, and incredibly strong.
By Aisling M Williams
Works Cited
Feltman,
Rachel. "Scientists Create a ‘Star of David’ Molecule — a Step towards
Molecular Chainmail." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 22
Sept. 2014. Web. 28 Sept. 2014.
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