Nanoscopic Heavens

In the movie Fantastic Voyage actress Raquel Welch is among a group of scientists and doctors tasked to remove an inoperable brain tumor from a VIP. The team enters a submarinelike vessel which is then reduced to microscopic dimensions and injected into the patient s bloodstream. A moment of elevated drama occurs when Ms. Welch, outside of the vessel, is attacked by blobby antibodies and the men vie for the honor of removing them from her bodysuit. Needless to say, after some tense moments, the tumor operation eventually succeeds and the movie ends happily. 

Microscopic refers to objects that can be detected in common optical microscopes—they are microns (micrometers = 10 m) in dimension. Individual atoms are angstroms (10 ° m or 10 cm) in size. Large enough clusters of atoms form molecules or aggregates of molecules (such as viruses) that are tens of angstroms or nanometers (1 nm = 10 m) in scale. What if we could make computers, machines and even robots out of nanoscale parts Clearly, Nature has already mastered nanotechnology, why can t we  

FIGURE 334. Chemical squares joined by bifunctional linear molecules and bifunctional angular (90°) molecules joined by dative bonds about 20% as strong as covalent bonds. Nature allows the four molecules that join to form each of these structures to form-break-reform until they get it right (RJ. Stang and B. Olenyuk, Accounts of Chemical Research, Vol. 30 502, 1997) (courtesy American Chemical Society). 

We have now come full circle over the course of 2500 years. The ancient Pythagoreans envisioned a mathematical basis to matter and the four earthly elements and the fifth, heavenly element (the ether ) were represented by the five 

Platonic solids (see KeplePs Harmonices Mundi, Fig. 4) Platonic solids held together by strong covalent bonds have been known for some time. In white phosphorus (P ), the atoms occupy the corners of a tetrahedron. How did the ancients know that the tetrahedron was appropriate for fire and also for fiery white phosphorus Starting almost 40 years ago, clever organic chemists laboriously Tricked nature, seemingly thwarted entropy, and assembled cubes, dodecahe-dra, and tetrahedra of covalently attached carbons. Nature, however, had its 

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FIGURE 338. The formation of a nanoscopic dodecahedron ( heaven, see Figure 4) using the conceptual approach shown of Stang and Olenyuk. It is the largest abiological system made by self-assembly. ... 

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