What Are the World’s Smallest Machines?

The 2016 Nobel Prize for Chemistry has been announced. The winners are three scientists who have apparently developed the ‘world’s smallest machines’. Read on as we go through the machine’s purpose, how it was developed and exactly how small they are.

And the winner is…

An announcement was made at Nobel’s October press conference in Sweden and has since been published online. Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir Fraser Stoddart and Bernard Feringa won the accolade (and the £2 million prize) “for the design and synthesis of molecular machines”. So what exactly have they created?

Their tiny piece of nanotechnology consists of molecules with controllable movements. They are estimated to be a thousand times thinner than a strand of human hair. It’s being called a revolution in chemistry because it means tiny molecules can be sent to complete ‘tasks’ in the human body when required. The main use will be medical. They enable controlled delivery of medication for specific, targeted cells.

How did they do it?

Work started back in 1983 when Sauvage linked together two ring-shaped molecules with a mechanical bond. This formed a chain, known as a catenane, which was more flexible than one with a strong covalent bond, enabling the molecules to move separately, like parts of a machine.

Stoddart then developed the next part of the puzzle in 1991, threading a molecular ring onto a molecular axle – this is known as a rotaxane. Scientists working with him have since developed molecular lifts, muscles and computer chips using the same rotaxane basis.

Finally, Bernard Feringa. He developed the molecular motor. In 2011, his team of scientists managed to build a nano-car. With a molecular chassis, the car had four motors and was able to move in microscopic electric bursts. Together, the three winners have produced something that’s truly groundbreaking in a medical sense. The official Nobel site suggests molecular motors are at the same stage now as electric motors were in the 1830s.

Tackling problems

This nanotechnology all contributes towards the growing field of nanomedicine. It’s thought to be the best way to treat some of the more challenging diseases. Cancer certainly comes under this category. It’s one of the most formidable challenges to doctors and scientists all around the world. But nanomedicine might be on the way to providing a useful weapon. Its potential uses, like identifying tumours and destroying unhealthy tissue, are explored in ‘Nanomedical Cancer Innovations: Nanoparticle treatments could prove a powerful new force against cancer’.