Programmable nano-assembly of plasmonic materials for molecular interactions

多年来，科学家们一直对观察大量其他分子中的少量分子的能力感兴趣。在根本方面，我们想要实时观察分子如何直接进行化学反应，它们如何探索它们可以聚集在一起的不同方式，相互作用，并最终形成键，理想情况下，我们希望影响这一点，这样我们就可以选择感兴趣的单一产品。我们还想了解分子在表面如何反应，因为这形成了工业相关过程中催化的基础，因此是我们生活中几乎每一种产品的核心。然而，大多数科学研究都是在实验室达到的精确条件下进行的，例如高真空，以选择可能最清洁的条件，但这些条件看起来与他们模拟的真实世界应用完全不同。因此，大多数知识都是经验性的，并经过了务实的优化。我们一直在研究一种全新的方法来观察在一个极其微小的试管中的化学作用，试管本身就是一个分子。我们使用一种名为CB的桶形分子，它可以选择性地吸入各种不同的分子。最近，我们找到了一种方法，将这些桶形容器与横跨数百个原子的微小金块结合在一起，这样照射到这种金桶混合物上的光线就会聚焦并增强光波进入分子所在的微小空间。通过观察散射光的颜色，我们可以找出存在什么分子和它们在做什么，并具有足够的灵敏度来分辨微小的数字。我们这笔赠款的目的是探索我们有希望的开始(这是由欧盟资助的)。我们的目标是开发各种方法来制造有用的结构，这些结构可以感觉到大脑中的神经递质，母亲和胎儿之间的蛋白质不相容，观察分子氢化的发生，发现危险的微量气体，以及许多其他东西。与此同时，我们希望更深入、更仔细地了解如何进一步利用这些想法，从控制容器内发生的化学反应，到使捕获的分子在FLEX内产生可导致颜色变化的开关。为了实现这一切，我们让跨越物理和化学的研究小组完全混合在一起，这样他们就可以在这些非常跨学科的方面合作。我们发现这是非常有效的。我们还涉及一些公司和潜在的最终用户(包括NHS)，他们在试图在诊断、成像和催化等重要领域利用这些技术时，知道真正的问题。

The ability to look at small numbers of molecules in a sea of others has appealed to scientists for years. On the fundamental side we want to watch in real time how molecules undergo chemical reactions directly, how they explore the different ways they can come together, interact and eventually form a bond, and ideally we would like to influence this so that we can select just a single product of interest. We also want to understand how molecules react at surfaces since this forms the basis of catalysis in industrially relevant processes and is thus at the heart of almost every product in our lives. However, most scientific studies take place in precise conditions achieved in the laboratory, such as high vacuum, to select the cleanest possible conditions, but which look nothing like the real world applications they simulate. Hence most knowledge is empirical and pragmatically optimised. We have been working on a completely new way to watch chemistry in an incredibly tiny test tube, itself a molecule. We use a barrel-shaped molecule called a 'CB' that can selectively suck in all sorts of different molecules. Recently, we have found a way to combine these barrel containers with tiny chunks of gold a few hundred atoms across, in such a way that shining light onto this gold-barrel mixture focuses and enhances the light waves into tiny volumes of space exactly where the molecules are located. By looking at the colours of the scattered light, we can work out what molecules are present and what they are doing, with enough sensitivity to resolve tiny numbers.Our aim in this grant is to explore our promising start (that was seeded by EU funding). We aim to develop all sorts of ways to make useful structures that sense neurotransmitters from the brain, protein incompatibilities between mother and foetus, watch hydrogenation of molecules take place, find trace gases that are dangerous, and many others. At the same time we want to understand much more deeply and carefully how we can go further with such ideas, from controlling chemical reactions happening inside the container, to making captured molecules inside flex which can result in colour-changing switches. To make all this happen we take research groups spanning physics and chemistry and completely mix them up, so that they can work together on these very interdisciplinary aspects. We have found this works extremely well. We also involve a number of companies and potential end users (including the NHS) who know the real problems when trying to exploit these technologies in important areas including diagnostics, imaging and catalysis.