A New Kind of Chemistry

pq writes "Reasearchers at VCU, Pennsylvania State have created "superatoms" of aluminium and iodine that behave like the alkaline earth metals. From the article: "Our production of such a species is a stirring development that may lead to new compounds with a completely new class of chemistry and applications". Another article on Biomedcentral"

Comments

'Nanotech' implications?

[tod_miller]

I have been waiting for some kind of similar announcement, something that will have some impact in nanotech thinking circles. Although this area of nanotech is completely hyped and misrepresented by every company involved in it.

The goal is to use these clusters as building blocks to tailor the design and formation of materials with selected properties.

They have basically coated aluminium atoms with iodine atoms, and produced a molecule that acts like a huge iodine atom, but with hybrid properties.

In the future 'chemical computing' (not computational chemistry) can be achieved and allowing us to build primitive components of a mass production system (basically a highly iterative and controlled series of reactions, building larger and larger blocks, that progress down a conveyer belt).

Anyway, it sounds good, and I cannot wait until the real application of this becomes app'nt (breaking the current nm barrier in CPU tech so we can hit 10ghz at consumer level).

Re:'Nanotech' implications?

[Wandering Wombat]

What would be the practical applications of these super-atom overlords? Extra-large selectively-reactive iodine atoms are cool, but I don't see just yet how it would revolutionize the world.

I understand this is the first step on a long staircase of discovery, but can anyone tell me where the staircase goes?

Re:'Nanotech' implications?

[Spy der Mann]

...primitive components of a mass production system (basically a highly iterative and controlled series of reactions, building larger and larger blocks, that progress down a conveyer belt).

Anyway, it sounds good, and I cannot wait until the real application of this becomes app'nt (breaking the current nm barrier in CPU tech so we can hit 10ghz at consumer level).

I think you're too much into molecular assembly. Nanotech has slowly acquired a new meaning: Use of nanostructures (nanotubes) and quantum physics (quantum dot) for diverse apps.

IIRC (If I recall correctly), nanotube transistors are what is needed to go not only for GHz, but for THz in computing. There are already experiments in nanotubes superconductivity.

If you're still into molecular assemblers, you could try these new DNA-as-crane chip manufacturing methods. They sound promising.

Just one step closer

[AtariAmarok]

Just one step closer to the transparent aluminum whale-aquarium.

The stories seem to contradict each other

[benhocking]

From the Times Dispatch story:

When the number of iodine "ornaments" is an even number, the "superatom" is very stable and doesn't react with other elements, even oxygen. If the number of "ornaments" is odd, the superatom is reactive.

From The Scientist:

For example, when the 14-atom aluminum cluster combines with three iodine atoms, it creates an ion with overall negative charge which is actually extremely stable. Such novel properties provide the potential for creating radically new nanoscale materials, Khanna said. He noted that the work on clusters containing iodine could have important medical applications, given the element's key role in a number of biochemical pathways.

I'm probably misreading something, but it seems that since there are 3 iodine atoms in this molecule, it should be reactive and not stable (at least acording to the first article).

It will be interesting to see if this opens up broad new areas of chemical engineering, but since the technology seems somewhat old, I am skeptical that this is as revolutionary as it sounds to my undereducated ears.

Re:The stories seem to contradict each other

[crow]

Not necessarily a contradiction.

Hydrogen reacts with lots of things, but it's very stable in the sense that it continues to be hydrogen. These clusters may be reactive, but are very stable in the sense that the clusters remain intact with all the same properties of the cluster.

Or at least that's my understanding of what they're trying to say, having not read the article.

Re:The stories seem to contradict each other

[Lars T.]

The sentence from the Times Dispatch is refering to the Al13 cluster, the Scientist talks about the Al14 cluster.

Super-atoms?

[AlgaeEater]

Looks like they are more like molecules (or rather metalic latice fragments). Calling them 'super atoms' is a little misleading; it make them sound like a man-made atom when they are not. Ionic-alloys might be better terminology. Interesting though, if the process can be made cheap enough we may be able to mimic the properties of incredibly rare metals and use a man-made substitute in their stead. AE

Re:Super-atoms?

[19thNervousBreakdown]

Even better, we could mimic the properties of metals that we want, without their drawbacks. Lead is an extremely useful metal; if we could create something with it's beneficial properties and lose the whole poison thing, just think of the boost to industry.

Re:Super-atoms?

[belg4mit]

Many properties are related (they all stem from the same root causes afterall: mass and electron configuration). You want to have your cacke and eat it too.

Re:Super-atoms?

[Wandering Wombat]

The Cominco smelter is one of the oldest smelters in North America (Canada, actually) operating since 1895. I'll be closing down soon, thank god, although the river live in the area is not expected to return. Ever.

They had lead, arsenic, thallium, and lord knows what else poisoning there, and they didn't even tell anyone thallium was on the premises until 2001. There was a fine, an apology, and that was it. True, this is a bad example, since it is a huge old smelter, and not the most efficient thing in the world.

They ran some tests, and the amount of some elements in the clothing of Cominco workers was past the safe limit. This was clothing that had already been washed, mind you.

Re:Ugh... Get your facts

[AlgaeEater]

Corrosion. def: a state of deterioration in metals caused by oxidation or chemical action.

Corrosion tends to be used for a continual process of deterioration whereas the oxidation coating formed on aluminium is very stable and prevents any further corrosion. A similar thing happens with the carbon lattice in diamond; it is a hydrogen coating rather than oxygen though.

AE

How about radicals?

[benhocking]

That sounds like a better description to me. I agree "super-atoms" is a really bad name. I'm no expert in chemistry so perhaps there is something about these clusters that causes the radical moniker to be inappropriate.

Re:How about radicals?

[Xilman]

I'm no expert in chemistry so perhaps there is something about these clusters that causes the radical moniker to be inappropriate.

In chemistry, the term radical is almost always reserved for electrically neutral species containing an unpaired electron (very rarely, two unpaired electrons). By this measure, these metal clusters are not radicals.

Paul

Re:Ugh... Get your facts

[myukew]

corrosion is an ongoing process as long as the environment doesn't change, like with iron and water.

aluminium gets this ultra thin oxide layer and doesn't react any further.
so they're right

Re:Chemical Bonding?

[Dachannien]

Well, there are some non-first-year concepts at work here. From looking at the Science* article (14 Jan 2005 issue, p 231-235), I gather that the aluminum atoms form a small "jellium" cluster. Within a cluster of this type, the electrical potential is relatively uniform, but there are boundary effects at the edge of the cluster.

In the Al13 cluster, the inner electrons are kept in normal ground states, and combined with the atoms' protons, form a net positive charge. The outer (valence) electrons react to this charge by falling into energy states dependent upon the whole Al13 molecule, not the individual atoms. In fact, the molecule's energy states can resemble those of other atoms, and can behave in the same ways that those other atoms do. Al13, for example, resembles a halogen, and so it binds to varying numbers of iodine atoms covalently.

Now, I'm not actually a chemist (I was brought up in electrical engineering and computer science), so my reading of the details might be wrong, but I think that's how it works.

(* You'll either need a Science subscription, or you'll need to access from the domain of an institution that has a site subscription. The vast majority of US universities do.)