Yahoo – AFP, Pia Ohlin, October 5, 2016
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| Winners of the 2016 Nobel Chemistry Prize (L-R) Jean-Pierre Sauvage, J Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L Feringa pictured on a screen during a press conference at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm on October 5, 2016 (AFP Photo/Jonathan Nackstrand) |
Stockholm
(AFP) - A French, British and Dutch trio of scientists won the Nobel Chemistry
Prize on Wednesday for developing the world's smallest machines that may one
day act as artificial muscles to power tiny robots or even prosthetic limbs.
Jean-Pierre
Sauvage of France, Fraser Stoddart of Britain and Bernard Feringa of the
Netherlands "have developed molecules with controllable movements, which
can perform a task when energy is added," the jury said.
Inspired by
proteins that naturally act as biological machines within cells, these
synthetic copies are usually made up of a few molecules fused together.
Also called
nanomachines or nanobots, they can be put to work as tiny motors, ratchets,
pistons or wheels to produce mechanical motion in response to stimuli such as
light or temperature change.
Molecular
machines can move objects many times their size.
"The
molecular motor is at the same stage as the electric motor was in the 1830s,
when scientists displayed various spinning cranks and wheels, unaware that they
would lead to electric trains, washing machines, fans and food
processors," the Nobel jury said.
Molecular
machines will "most likely be used in the development of things such as
new materials, sensors and energy storage systems," it added.
The three
laureates will share the eight million Swedish kronor (around $933,000 or
832,000 euros) prize equally.
 |
Professor
Olof Ramstrom (right), member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry,
explains
the award on the screen during a press conference at the Royal Swedish
Academy
of Sciences in Stockholm on October 5, 2016 (AFP Photo/
Jonathan Nackstrand) |
'Feel
like the Wright brothers'
Feringa, a
65-year-old professor at the University of Groningen, told reporters at the
Nobel press conference the prizewinning research offered great opportunities
for the future.
"I
feel a little bit like the Wright brothers, who were flying 100 years ago for
the first time. And then people were saying, 'why do we need flying machines?'
And now we've got the Boeing 747 and the Airbus," he said by video link.
"We
will build those smart materials in the future. That is a big opportunity --
materials that will reconfigurate, that will change, that will adapt
themselves, that have properties that can change because they pick up a
signal."
The first
step towards a molecular machine was taken by Sauvage in 1983, when he
succeeded in linking together two ring-shaped molecules to form a chain.
Normally,
molecules are joined by strong bonds in which the atoms share electrons, but in
the chain they were instead linked by a freer mechanical bond.
"For a
machine to be able to perform a task it must consist of parts that can move
relative to each other. The two interlocked rings fulfilled exactly this
requirement," the Nobel jury said.
Sauvage,
71, told AFP he was "very surprised" and "felt enormously
happy" to win the prize.
He is the
director of research emeritus at France's National Center for Scientific
Research (CNRS).
Shapes
and puzzles
The second
step was taken by Stoddart in 1991, when he threaded a molecular ring onto a
thin molecular axle and demonstrated that the ring was able to move along the
axle.
"Among
his developments... are a molecular lift, a molecular muscle and a
molecule-based computer chip," the jury said.
Stoddart,
74, is a professor of chemistry at Northwestern University in the US.
 |
The winners
of the 2016 Nobel Chemistry Prize (from left) Jean-Pierre Sauvage,
J Fraser
Stoddart and Bernard L Feringa are displayed on a laptop at the Royal
Swedish
Academy of Sciences in Stockholm on October 5, 2016 (AFP Photo/
Jonathan
Nackstrand)
|
Growing up
on a farm in Scotland without electricity or any modern-day conveniences, he
occupied himself doing jigsaw puzzles, a pastime that helped him recognise
shapes and see how they can be linked together.
His
fascination with shapes continued in his research: the ring-shaped molecule
mechanically attached to an axle that he developed is called a
"rotaxane".
Honoured by
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II with the title of knight bachelor in 2006,
Stoddart told AFP of his Nobel prize: "I'm surprised, I'm thrilled, I'm
overjoyed".
He said he,
Sauvage and Feringa were "the very closest of friends... We're almost what
I would call scientific brothers."
Stoddart,
whose wife died of breast cancer in the late 1990s, said their technology could
be used to treat cancer in the future.
"You
can control a drug and not have it come all at once, so it can last much longer
and be used much more efficiently with a smaller dose than the often hard-core
cancer treatments, for example."
Feringa was
meanwhile the first person to develop a molecular motor -- in 1999 he was able
to make a molecular rotor blade to spin continually in the same direction.
Using molecular motors, he has also designed a nanocar.
Like
Stoddart, Feringa was raised on a farm and was attracted to chemistry by its
endless opportunities for creativity.
When he
produced the first molecular motor in 1999, he succeeded in getting it to spin
in one direction.
Normally,
molecules' movements are governed by chance; on average, a spinning molecule
moves as many times to the right as to the left.
But Feringa
was able to design a molecule that was mechanically constructed to spin in a
particular direction.
The work of
the three laureates has created a molecular toolbox to build increasingly
advanced creations, the jury said.
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