HOUSTON, April 12 (UPI) -- Not content with inventing the world's first single-molecule car, Rice University scientists have now created the first motorized version of their nanocar.
"Everything that's produced through biology -- from the tallest redwood to largest whale -- is built one molecule at a time," said lead researcher James Tour, a professor of chemistry, mechanical engineering, materials science and computer science. "Nanocars and other synthetic transporters may prove to be a suitable alternative for bottom-up systems where biological methods aren't practical."
The motorized model of the nanocar is powered by light. Its rotating motor, a molecular framework that was developed by Ben Feringa at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, was modified by Tour's group so that it would attach in-line with the nanocar's chassis. When light strikes the motor, it rotates in one direction, pushing the car along like a paddlewheel.
The first nanocar research paper, published in the journal Nano Letters last October, was the most-accessed article from all American Chemical Society journals during 2005.
The current research appears in the April 13 issue of the journal Organic Letters.
