Reproduce of a structure of five rings

A team of scientists has shaped and reproduced the structure of 5-membered ring as small as possible, about 100,000 times thinner than a human hair. A collaboration between the Royal Society of Chemistry, University of Warwick, both in the UK, and IBM Research - Zurich (Switzerland), has allowed researchers to give life to a single molecule in an image, using a combination of synthetic chemistry intelligent, and imaging techniques.

According to Fox, despite the effort of creating olympicene in a laboratory, there are many reasons to work with molecules like this. For example, these types of molecules may offer great potential for the next generation of high-tech solar cells and light sources such as LEDs.

The group at IBM Research - Zurich analyzed the chemical structure of olympicene with unprecedented resolution, using a complex technique known as atomic force microscopy without contact. With this technique, the authors were able to reproduce this unique molecule, only 1.2 nanometers wide, and 100,000 times thinner than a human hair.