Synthetic Nanoparticles Achieve Complexity of Protein Molecules

Findings Will Help Guide Nanoparticle Construction, Could Lead to New Materials, Drugs. By Jocelyn Duffy Graphic shows Au246's hierarchical assembly into an artificial solid. Chemists at Carnegie Mellon University have demonstrated that synthetic nanoparticles can achieve the same level of structural complexity, hierarchy and accuracy as their natural counterparts - biomolecules. The findings from the lab of Chemistry Professor Rongchao Jin provide researchers with an important window into how nanoparticles form, and will help guide the construction of nanoparticles, including those that can be used in the fabrication of computer chips, creation of new materials, and development of new drugs and drug delivery devices. "Most people think that nanoparticles are simple things, because they are so small. But when we look at nanoparticles at the atomic level, we found that they are full of wonders," Jin said. Image shows the structure of an AU246(SR)80 nanoparticle.