Coaxing Molecular Devices to Build Themselves

NAGOYA-- Nagoya University chemist Makoto Fujita and others are using a technique called directed self-assembly, which exploits the chemical and electrical bonds that hold natural molecules together, to get molecules to form desired nanometer-scale structures. This could lead to computer logic and memory devices up to 100 times smaller than their current counterparts. Self-assembled molecules might also serve as cages to hold and deliver unstable medical compounds, and as crucibles for chemical reactions.