杏吧原创

As well as super-shrinking everyday gadgets such as motors, molecules have also been massaged into shapes that are more mathematical than practical.

of New York University and colleagues mastered a molecule-sized version of one of the 13 鈥淎rchimedean solids鈥� 鈥� a family of symmetrical three-dimensional polyhedra attributed to the Greek mathematician.

The solid, a truncated octahedron, was built with tiny molecular tiles. One type of tile, ringed with chemical groups called guanidiniums, joined with another type ringed with sulphonates to form the shape through a connection of 72 hydrogen bonds.

The result is a hollow cage. By adding reactants to the tile mixture while cages were forming, the team also created inside them three metal 鈥渃omplexes鈥� containing bismuth, lead and mercury that had never been seen before. The cage easily dissolves to release the new complexes.

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