Ordered patters with self-assembly protocols

Nanoscience can arrange minute molecular entities into nanometric patterns in an orderly manner using self-assembly protocols.

Scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have functionalized a simple rod-like building block with hydroxamic acids at both ends. They form molecular networks that not only display the complexity and beauty of mono-component self-assembly on surfaces; they also exhibit exceptional properties.

Designing components for molecular self-assembly calls for functionalities that ‘interlock’. For example, our genetic information is encoded in two DNA strands, zipped together in a ‘spiral staircase’ double helix structure in a self-assembly process that is stabilized by hydrogen bonding.Inspired by nature’s ‘zippers’ researchers at the Technical University of Munich aim to construct functional nanostructures to push the boundaries of man-made structures.

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Source: “Pretty with a twist”, Technical University Munich