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Jan 19, 2023

New ‘chain mail’ material of interlocking molecules is tough, flexible and easy to make

Posted by in categories: chemistry, nanotechnology

University of California, Berkeley, chemists have created a new type of material from millions of identical, interlocking molecules, that for the first time allows the synthesis of extensive 2D or 3D structures that are flexible, strong and resilient, like the chain mail that protected medieval knights.

The material, called an infinite catenane, can be synthesized in a single chemical step.

French chemist Jean-Pierre Sauvage shared the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for synthesizing the first catenane—two linked rings. These structures served as the foundation for making molecular structures capable of moving, which are often referred to as molecular machines.

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