Most complex reaction ever triggered by atomic manipulation makes molecular wire

Atomic manipulation has been used to create the most complex molecule ever assembled using this technique. The structure is a molecular wire with a carbon backbone that was manipulated to have as many as eight triple bonds. This new approach to making molecular wires could help with the fabrication of carbon nanoribbons and molecular electronics.

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) allows researchers to mechanically ‘feel’ the contours of single molecules on surfaces and thereby record images of their shapes. Scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) enables similar imaging feats using the tunnel effect which depends on the variations in very small distances between probe and surface. As the STM requires application of a voltage, it can also serve to add or remove electrons from the molecule being studied, and thereby trigger a reaction. The progress of the reaction can then be monitored in structural terms by AFM which can make use of the same setup.