Switching molecular self-assembly on and off with electricity
New approach uses electrons to catalyse molecular recognition, giving chemists precise control over the process
A simple strategy to trigger and control molecular recognition has been developed by scientists in the US, China and Australia.1 The new method, which uses electrons as a catalyst, could find important applications in medicine and materials science.
Molecular recognition and self-assembly play a crucial role in determining many of the properties of biological systems, so chemists have long been interested in expanding these processes to synthetic molecules. But that’s not an easy task and until now speeding up molecular recognition has only been possible using a sophisticated catalyst design.