Programmable nano-assembly of plasmonic materials for molecular interactions

多年来，科学家们一直对在大量分子中观察少量分子的能力感兴趣。在基本面上，我们想在真实的时间里观察分子如何直接进行化学反应，它们如何探索不同的方式，它们如何聚集在一起，相互作用并最终形成键，理想情况下，我们想影响这一点，这样我们就可以选择一个感兴趣的单一产物。我们还想了解分子如何在表面反应，因为这构成了工业相关过程中催化的基础，因此是我们生活中几乎所有产品的核心。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，以选择最干净的条件，但这些条件看起来与他们模拟的真实的世界应用完全不同。因此，大多数知识都是经验性的和实用性的优化。我们一直在研究一种全新的方式，在一个非常小的试管中观察化学反应，试管本身就是一个分子。我们使用一种叫做“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，将这些桶形容器与几百个原子大小的小块黄金结合在一起，这样，照射到这个金桶混合物上的光线就会聚焦并增强光波，使其进入分子所在的微小空间。通过观察散射光的颜色，我们可以计算出存在的分子以及它们在做什么，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（由欧盟资助）。我们的目标是开发各种方法来制造有用的结构，这些结构可以感知大脑中的神经递质，母亲和胎儿之间的蛋白质不相容性，观察分子的氢化发生，发现危险的痕量气体，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实现这些想法，从控制容器内发生的化学反应，到在Flex内捕获分子，从而产生颜色变化的开关。为了实现这一切，我们把物理和化学的研究小组完全混合起来，这样他们就可以在这些非常跨学科的方面合作。我们发现这非常有效。我们还涉及一些公司和潜在的最终用户（包括NHS），他们知道在诊断、成像和催化等重要领域利用这些技术时存在的真实的问题。

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.