Molecular Rocket
A submarine molecule has been created,
capable of moving in a liquid at breakneck speed
DailyTechInfo based on KurzweilAINetwork materials: A molecular light-driven nanosubmarine
A group of chemists from Rice University, led by James Tour, has created a microscopic "submarine", which is a single molecule consisting of 244 atoms of various chemical elements. Each revolution of the "propeller" of this submarine molecule moves it to a distance of 18 nanometers, but its engines, which receive energy from the energy of ultraviolet light, rotate at a speed of more than a million revolutions per minute. And due to such a high speed of rotation, the submarine molecule can move in a liquid medium at a dizzying speed for molecular scales, which is about 1 inch (2.54 centimeters) per second.
This work demonstrates that some types of molecular motors have enough power to move 10-nanometer objects in a liquid medium, the molecules of which are comparable in size to the size of a submarine molecule. "Our molecule moves in a liquid at the highest speed that molecules can develop," says James Tour, "And moving in a liquid medium is a very difficult task. Imagine a person walking through a basketball court, where there are a thousand more people and each of them tries to throw a ball at him or just push a walker."
It should be noted that researchers from the laboratory of James Tour already have quite a wealth of experience in the creation of molecular engines. At one time, we talked about a four-wheeled nanoautomobile, a nanocar with an independent suspension that could move across the surface at a relatively high speed. "We conceived the idea of creating a molecular engine powered by ultraviolet light back in 2009," says James Tour, "But only some of the latest advances in chemistry and physics allowed us to bring this idea to life, because the process of synthesizing a submarine molecule is very, very complex, it is carried out in 20 different stages".
The nanocar and the submarine molecule are far from the only microscopic machines with molecular motors. Similar developments have been carried out by other groups of scientists, but in most cases the energy for the operation of the engines of these molecular machines is drawn from the energy of chemical reactions involving active and toxic chemical components.
The engine pushing the submarine molecule forward acts like a flagellum in some types of microorganisms. Each revolution of this engine is performed in four steps. When a molecule is excited by high-energy ultraviolet light, the double chemical bond that binds the motor rotor to the body of the main molecule changes its configuration, moving a quarter of a turn. Since the molecule always tends to occupy the lowest energy state, the engine "by inertia" skips another quarter turn. And this process continues indefinitely, as long as the molecule is illuminated by light of sufficient intensity.
To conduct research, scientists from the laboratory of James Tour have created a number of different molecules-submarines. Some molecules were equipped with slow motors, while others were reversible, capable of rotating in opposite directions. And to track the movements of molecules, elements of a fluorescent dye were introduced into them, which glowed red when illuminated by a laser beam.
"We still have a lot of work ahead of us," says James Tour, "Now we have just proved the workability of our ideas. Now we must continue to explore the possibilities of such molecules and their applications. And they can be applied in medicine, in biological research and in many other fields of science and technology."
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru
20.11.2015