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Capturing the embryonic stages of self-assembly - design rules for molecular computation

The drive towards organic computing is gaining momentum. Interestingly, the building blocks for such architectures is based on molecular ensembles extending from nucleic acids to synthetic molecules. Advancement in this direction requires devising precise nanoscopic experiments and model calculation...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Nirmalraj, Peter N., Thompson, Damien, Riel, Heike E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4650799/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25960364
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep10116
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author Nirmalraj, Peter N.
Thompson, Damien
Riel, Heike E.
author_facet Nirmalraj, Peter N.
Thompson, Damien
Riel, Heike E.
author_sort Nirmalraj, Peter N.
collection PubMed
description The drive towards organic computing is gaining momentum. Interestingly, the building blocks for such architectures is based on molecular ensembles extending from nucleic acids to synthetic molecules. Advancement in this direction requires devising precise nanoscopic experiments and model calculations to decipher the mechanisms governing the integration of a large number of molecules over time at room-temperature. Here, we report on ultrahigh-resolution scanning tunnelling microscopic measurements to register the motion of molecules in the absence of external stimulus in liquid medium. We observe the collective behavior of individual molecules within a swarm which constantly iterate their position to attain an energetically favourable site. Our approach provides a consistent pathway to register molecular self-assembly in sequential steps from visualising thermodynamically driven repair of defects up until the formation of a stable two-dimensional configuration. These elemental findings on molecular surface dynamics, self-repair and intermolecular kinetic pathways rationalised by atom-scale simulations can be explored for developing new models in algorithmic self-assembly to realisation of evolvable hardware.
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spelling pubmed-46507992015-11-24 Capturing the embryonic stages of self-assembly - design rules for molecular computation Nirmalraj, Peter N. Thompson, Damien Riel, Heike E. Sci Rep Article The drive towards organic computing is gaining momentum. Interestingly, the building blocks for such architectures is based on molecular ensembles extending from nucleic acids to synthetic molecules. Advancement in this direction requires devising precise nanoscopic experiments and model calculations to decipher the mechanisms governing the integration of a large number of molecules over time at room-temperature. Here, we report on ultrahigh-resolution scanning tunnelling microscopic measurements to register the motion of molecules in the absence of external stimulus in liquid medium. We observe the collective behavior of individual molecules within a swarm which constantly iterate their position to attain an energetically favourable site. Our approach provides a consistent pathway to register molecular self-assembly in sequential steps from visualising thermodynamically driven repair of defects up until the formation of a stable two-dimensional configuration. These elemental findings on molecular surface dynamics, self-repair and intermolecular kinetic pathways rationalised by atom-scale simulations can be explored for developing new models in algorithmic self-assembly to realisation of evolvable hardware. Nature Publishing Group 2015-05-11 /pmc/articles/PMC4650799/ /pubmed/25960364 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep10116 Text en Copyright © 2015, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
spellingShingle Article
Nirmalraj, Peter N.
Thompson, Damien
Riel, Heike E.
Capturing the embryonic stages of self-assembly - design rules for molecular computation
title Capturing the embryonic stages of self-assembly - design rules for molecular computation
title_full Capturing the embryonic stages of self-assembly - design rules for molecular computation
title_fullStr Capturing the embryonic stages of self-assembly - design rules for molecular computation
title_full_unstemmed Capturing the embryonic stages of self-assembly - design rules for molecular computation
title_short Capturing the embryonic stages of self-assembly - design rules for molecular computation
title_sort capturing the embryonic stages of self-assembly - design rules for molecular computation
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4650799/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25960364
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep10116
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