Nanochemistry

(chemistry) The study of the synthesis and analysis of materials in the nanoscale range (1 - 10 nanometers), including large organic molecules, inorganic cluster compounds, and metallic or semiconductor particles.

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The study of the synthesis and characterization of materials in the nanoscale size range (1 to 10 nanometers). These materials include large organic molecules, inorganic cluster compounds, and metallic or semiconductor particles. The synthesis of nanoscale inorganic materials is important because the small size endows these particles with unusual structural and optical properties that may find application in catalysis and electrooptical devices. Approaches to the synthesis of these materials have focused on constraining the reaction environment through the use of surface-bound organic additives, porous glasses, zeolites, clays, or polymers. The use of synthetic approaches that are inspired by the biological processes result in the deposition of inorganic materials such as bones, shells, and teeth (biomineralization). This biomimetic approach involves the use of assemblies of biological molecules that provide nanoscale reaction environments in which inorganic materials can be prepared in an organized and controlled manner. Examples of biological assemblies include phospholipid vesicles and the polypeptide micelle of the iron storage protein, ferritin. See also Micelle.

Vesicles are bounded by an organic membrane that provides a spatial limit on the size of the reaction volume. If a chemical reaction is undertaken in this confined space that leads to the formation of an inorganic material, the size of the product will also be constrained to the dimensions of the organic host structure. Provided that the chemical and physical conditions are not too severe to disrupt the organic membrane, these supramolecular assemblies may have advantages over inorganic hosts such as clays and zeolites because the chemical nature of the organic surface can be systematically modified so that controlled reactions can be accomplished. See also Supramolecular chemistry.

One problem encountered with the use of phospholipid vesicles is their sensitivity to changes in temperature and ionic strength. Procedures have been developed in which the biomolecular cage of the iron storage protein, ferritin, has been used as a nanoscale reaction environment for the synthesis of inorganic materials. In the simplest approach the native iron oxide core is transformed into another material by chemical reaction within the protein shell.

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Part of a series of articles on Molecular Nanotechnology Mechanosynthesis Molecular assembler Molecular machine Productive nanosystems Nanorobotics K. Eric Drexler Engines of Creation See also Nanotechnology v d e

Nanochemistry is a new branch of nanoscience related with the production and the reactions of nanoparticles and their compounds. It is concerned with the unique properties associated with assemblies of atoms or molecules on a scale between that of the individual building blocks and the bulk material (from 1 to 1000 nm^[1]). At this level, quantum effects can be significant, and also new ways of carrying out chemical reactions become possible. Professor Geoffrey Ozin of the University of Toronto is regarded as the father of nanochemistry. "His visionary paper "Nanochemistry - Synthesis in Diminishing Dimensions" (Advanced Materials, 1992, 4, 612) stimulated a whole new field: it proposed how the principles of chemistry could be applied to the bottom-up synthesis of materials "over all length scales" through "building-block hierarchical construction principles": that is, by using molecular/nano-scale building blocks "programmed" with chemical information that will spontaneously self-assemble, in a controlled way, into structures that traverse a wide range of length scales. This was a whole new way of thinking at the time.^[2]"

This science use methodologies from the synthetic chemistry and the material's chemistry to obtain nanomaterials with specific sizes, shapes, surface properties, defects, self-assembly properties, designed to accomplish specific functions and uses.^[3]

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=Applications

The applications of nanochemistry have a wide range which covers from the semi-conductors electronics, to the medicine. Nanochemistry uses semi-conductors that only conduct electricity in specific conditions. As the semi-conductors are much smaller than normal conductors the product can be much smaller. There is evidence certain nanoparticles of silver are useful to inhibit some viruses and bacteria.^[4] Nanochemistry is being used to build high-tech armor and military weapons and for military uses.

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References

1. ^ Concepts of nanochemistry, Cademartiri, Ludovico and Ozin, Goeffrey A. Wiley-VCH 2009 ISBN 978-3-527-32626-6
2. ^ http://www.chem.utoronto.ca/ppl/faculty_profile.php?id=49
3. ^ Nanochemistry: What Is Next?, Ozin, Geoffrey A. and Cademartiri, Ludovico, 2009 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim small 2009, 5, No. 11, 1240–1244
4. ^ Dong-xi Xiang, Qian Chen, Lin Pang, Cong-long Zheng, Inhibitory effects of silver nanoparticles on H1N1 influenza A virus in vitro, Journal of Virological Methods, Available online 17 September 2011, ISSN 0166-0934, 10.1016/j.jviromet.2011.09.003.

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