Nanoputians

Set to Invade
Davina E. Stevenson ventures into Nanoput
In the land of the Nanoputians, science
meets art. A research group at Rice
University in Texas has achieved the ultimate in designed miniaturisation by
making a family of molecules which
resemble humans but are only
0.000000002 metres tall! The family
name is derived from the Lilliputians
that lived in Jonathan Swifts classic
story Gullivers Travels. The name also
describes their size, as nano means
1x10-9 (or 0.000000001 metres).
Synthetic chemists are fascinated by the
molecular building blocks of life, but these are
invisible to the naked eye and can be daunting
when described by complex structures,
abstract theories and formulae.

Structures represented by lines

Joining head and body

Although comical and mocked by many
chemists, these structures are not only potentially useful, but are an invaluable way to give
non-scientists of all ages a new appreciation
of chemical design and synthesis in a friendly and entertaining way. As a bonus, they
show that not all chemists are boring!
Davina E. Stevenson is a PhD student in
the Department of Chemistry.
All figures: Rice University; Montage:TCW

Since the age of the caveman, drawings and

structures have been simplified into lines: the
ultimate chemical formula uses lines to represent a carbon framework, where each line has
a carbon atom at the end.
To simplify research, chemists often
describe molecules with terms such as east

and west, and for the Nanoputian this is

extended to include body parts such as head,
neck and legs. When represented on paper
according to the standard methods used by
chemists, certain molecules actually look like
parts of cartoon people. Following the rules of
chemistry, the angle of the line depends on
how many and what other types of atoms are
attached to the carbon atom. So rather than
just being a cartoon, the molecular structure
of the Nanokid (seen below and right) actually represents a precisely defined molecule.
Generally chemists aim to use the least
number of reactions to make a compound.To
create a Nanoputian, this entails joining the
top and bottom of the bodies at the waist.
From the first Nanokid a whole family of
Nanoputians was born, and all that was needed was a kitchen microwave to give the system
energy and swap the heads. The population
now includes characters such as the
NanoAthlete, NanoJester and the NanoBaker.
How do we know what these structures
really look like? Chemists use techniques such
as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (which uses a
powerful magnet) to determine structure. We
can also detect the mass of a compound, and
use computer programs to add colour to
depictions of atoms and predict structures.
Are these just the fantasies of a mad
chemist? No, these molecules have very useful
applications when combined to form larger

structures. At present, limits in microchip

technology mean that wires are at least twomillimetres (0.002 metres) in width, but imagine using a row of Nanoputians with a molecular diameter of one-nanometre to reduce the
size of the wire by 100 times! A wide variety
of clinical and engineering applications might
be possible using these Nanoputians to transfer signals. Dr Jim Tour has already demonstrated that these nanocells can be used as
non-volatile memory for computer chips.
They offer the potential to reduce the size
and, therefore, the fabrication costs of electrical components: the two factors critical to
electronics in the 21st century.
This is not the first attempt to create art
from chemistry: Professor Kawatas research
group at Osaka University, Japan has used a
resin to make a bull-shaped structure that is
0.00001 metres long. Not bad, but this is still
5000 times longer and 200000000000 times
the volume of a Nanokid!

The Nano-population

18

luesci

Michaelmas 2004