In recent issues of Nature, we found a plethora of articles
that describe exciting developments in nanotechnology.
We decided to focus the column on this topic and selected
papers which demonstrate the enormous potential of this
technology to be the springboard for the development of ever
smaller and “smarter” separation, sensing, and mechanical
devices.
The work of two research groups to control the pattern of
crystal growth on surfaces was undoubtedly inspired by the desire
to mimic the remarkable accuracy displayed by biological
mineralization events. S. M. D’Souza and colleagues from the
Institute of Food Research in Reading, UK and from Unilever
Research Laboratories in the UK and in the Netherlands (1999,
398, March 25 issue, 312–316) polymerized divinylbenzenecross-linked
methacrylamidohexanoic acid onto a calcite template
crystal. After dissolving the calcite in acid, nucleation of
new calcite crystals was directed by the imprint of the original
crystal on the polymer surface. The ability to efficiently control
crystal growth appeared to depend on the monomeric species
used, the molecular interactions between its functional groups
and the growing crystal, and the identity of the imprinted crystal
template