Advanced REACH Tool materials

The characterization OF catalyst structures has undergone revolutionary developments in recent years. Powerful novel techniques and instrumentation are now used to analyze catalyst structure before, during, and after use. Many of these advances are responsible for placing the field of catalysis on an improved scientific basis. These developments have resulted in a better understanding of catalytic phenomena, and therefore improvements in commercial catalysts and the discovery of new systems. The application of advanced electronics and computer analysis has optimized many of these analytical tools. These developments are especially evident in spectroscopy, zeolite structure elucidation, and microscopy several other techniques have also been developed. Thus, the difficult goal of unraveling the relationships between the structure and reactivity of catalytic materials is finally within reach. 

Since many of these developments reach into the molecular domain, the understanding of nano-structured functional materials equally necessitates fundamental aspects of molecular physics, chemistry, and biology. The elementary energy and charge transfer processes bear much similarity to the molecular phenomena that have been revealed in unprecedented detail by ultrafast optical spectroscopies. Indeed, these spectroscopies, which were initially developed and applied for the study of small molecular species, have already evolved into an invaluable tool to monitor ultrafast dynamics in complex biological and materials systems. The molecular-level phenomena in question are often of intrinsically quantum mechanical character, and involve tunneling, non-Born-Oppenheimer effects, and quantum-mechanical phase coherence. Many of the advances that were made over recent years in the understanding of complex molecular systems can therefore be transposed and extended to the study of... 

As scientists and engineers, natural self-assembly processes represent a tremendous resource, which we can use to create our own miniature materials and devices. Our endeavors are informed by hundreds of years of curiosity-driven research interested in the natural world. Our toolbox is further expanded by modem synthetic chemistry which extends beyond the realm of natural molecules. We can also create artificial environments to control and direct assembly and use computer-based tools and simulations to model and predict self-assembly pathways and their resulting protein structures. Many researchers believe we can use these modern tools to simplify, improve, and refine assembly processes. We have much to do in order to reach this ambitious goal but the next 10 years are likely to be filled with exciting discoveries and advances as self-assembling polypeptide materials move from the laboratory to the clinic or the manufacturing assembly line. 

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