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Organic Materials Research from Queen's Makes Cover of Major Journal and is Highlighted in Nature, New Scientist and Chemical Engineering News
Organic Materials Research from A.P. de Silva at Queen's in collaboration with Nara Women’s University, Japan, has shown in Angewandte Chemie that protons in nanospaces near membranes can be mapped for the first time. The work is Highlighted in Nature, New Scientist and Chemical Engineering News. Molecules are sent to humanly inaccessible but important spaces so that they can map out the local environment. Then they send this information to us via electromagnetic waves. These molecules are fluorescent multiplexing sensors which simultaneously measure proton concentration as well as the location (in terms of polarity).
It is remarkable that NASA sends robotic vehicles to Mars so that they can map out the local environment and then send this information to mission control via electromagnetic waves. So, these fluorescent multiplexing sensors are nano-sized versions of these robotic vehicles. Nanorobots need not be frightening, when they turn out to be carefully multifunctionalized molecules with scientific uses.
