Home > News > Variable nanocomposites
December 6th, 2007
Variable nanocomposites
Abstract:
What appear under an atomic force microscope to be tiny rings with little bits missing are actually nanoscopic rings made of double-stranded DNA with a little gap in the form of a short single-stranded fragment. As Michael Famulok and his team from the University of Bonn, Germany, explain in the journal Angewandte Chemie, this gap is a place to attach other molecules that have the potential to transform the rings into versatile nanocomposites for various applications.
The programmable aggregation of molecular building blocks into structures with higher order plays a key role in the construction of nanomaterials. Nucleic acids are interesting building block candidates, being easy to synthesize and exhibiting unique molecular recognition characteristics. The difficulty lies in the fact that the construction of defined two- or three-dimensional geometries requires rigid building blocks. However, DNA molecules are normally flexible structures.
Source:
physorg.com
Bookmark:
Materials
Working backward: Computer-aided design of zeolite templates: Rice scientists apply drug-design lessons to production of industrial minerals June 17th, 2013
Discover the ‘Nanostructure Advantage’ at ECerS 2013, Booth 5: Innovnano presents nanostructured powders for high performance ceramics June 17th, 2013
Discovery of new material state counterintuitive to laws of physics June 14th, 2013
Ceramics in Paper Manufacturing including Advanced and Nano Materials: Author- Dr. Mahendra Patel, 420 pages; 32 chapters, Publ.2013 June 12th, 2013
Announcements
Sound waves precisely position nanowires June 19th, 2013
Scientists Use Nanotechnology to Increase Thermal Stability of Essential Oils June 19th, 2013
Production of Bioactive Material for Quick Treatment of Bone Damages June 19th, 2013
Nanometrics Announces Participation in 5th Annual CEO Investor Summit: Accredited Investor and Publishing Research Analyst Event to be Held Concurrently With SEMICON West and Intersolar 2013 in San Francisco June 19th, 2013
Nanobiotechnology
Iranian Scientists Produce Dynamometer for Nanoparticles, Biocells June 15th, 2013
Shape of nanoparticles points the way toward more targeted drugs: A collaboration of scientists at Sanford-Burnham and the University of California, Santa Barbara, finds that rod-shaped particles, rather than spherical particles, appear more effective at adhering to cells June 10th, 2013
Catching individual molecules in a million with optical antennas inside nano-boxes June 10th, 2013
Whispering light hears liquids talk: University of Illinois researchers build first-ever bridge between optomechanics and microfluidics June 7th, 2013