Andart

Lilliputians, Microputians, Nanoputians, ...

Synthesis of Anthropomorphic Molecules: The NanoPutians (Stephanie H. Chanteau and James M. Tour, J. Org. Chem., 68 (23), 8750 -8766, 2003)

Probably one of the cutest and most useless chemical syntheses I have ever encountered: the construction of human-like molecules. On the other hand, it is a good example of how the toolchest of organic chemistry allows the design of desired molecules with atomic precision (although in the bulk processes used in the paper, there is of course a lot of waste).

The synthesis builds the "body" from simpler chemicals, finally adding a "head" with a distinctive structure to make "nanoprofessionals" such as the nanochef or nanoscholar. Other additions enable the formation of chains holding hands, nanoballetdancers and binding to gold surfaces.

One of the authors has started an educational website, Nanokids about chemistry and nanotechnology. Some interesting resources, but IMHO too much cuteness, flash and raytracings for my taste (but still a good idea). Apropos other fun chemistry sites, I discovered the nanoputians from Molecules with Silly or Unusual Names - which is, just as it is labelled, mostly silly, but has some interesting random nuggets of information about everything from draculin and rudolphomycin to annamox biochemistry.

The paper claims "Beyond the molecular-sized domain there is no conceivable entity upon which to tailor architectures that could have programmed cohesive interactions between the individual building blocks". That is of course a gauntlet thrown at the atomic physicists to make an even smaller picoputian. Let's see if they can sculpt a character out of a Rydberg state, or make the strong nuclear force count for something!