8 replies to this topic

[motorcitykid]

They finally got the bugger in:

http://www.scienceda...30506103310.htm

[AdamI]

From article "In the Columbia Engineering study, the researchers found that, when they encapsulated a polar molecule within a nonpolar fullerene, they could use an external electrical field to transport the molecule@fullerene structures to desired positions and adjust the transport velocity so that both delivery direction and time were controllable." Soo my C60 could accumulate in one part of my body if there is a electrical Field there. Soo like I have my cell phone in my pocket it could attract the c60 to that place ??

[Turnbuckle]

From article "In the Columbia Engineering study, the researchers found that, when they encapsulated a polar molecule within a nonpolar fullerene, they could use an external electrical field to transport the molecule@fullerene structures to desired positions and adjust the transport velocity so that both delivery direction and time were controllable." Soo my C60 could accumulate in one part of my body if there is a electrical Field there. Soo like I have my cell phone in my pocket it could attract the c60 to that place ??

The C60 you are using won't have anything inside, nor can anything get inside once it's made.

[AdamI]

Hmm I see, soo it's the water atom that make C60 attracted to electrical Fields in this study, but then why do they point out that one could insert some drug instead of water in the future and then guide it. Since if its a drug atom inside then I assume the water atom won't fit and there by the electrical field to guide the c60 to the right destination in the body won't work

[niner]

From article "In the Columbia Engineering study, the researchers found that, when they encapsulated a polar molecule within a nonpolar fullerene, they could use an external electrical field to transport the molecule@fullerene structures to desired positions and adjust the transport velocity so that both delivery direction and time were controllable." Soo my C60 could accumulate in one part of my body if there is a electrical Field there. Soo like I have my cell phone in my pocket it could attract the c60 to that place ??

These buckyballs with a water inside were driven through a nanochannel, not through solution. They used a field of 0.05 volts per Angstrom, so unless your cell phone runs at 100 million volts, I think you're ok... There is of course no way that you can get a drug molecule into a c60 fullerene. There's a technique called iontophoresis that uses electric fields to drive ions through skin, so the idea of moving compounds with electric fields isn't utterly crazy. There are plenty of molecules in the body that have large dipole moments and might be susceptible to field effects, so the people who advocate grounding yourself when possible, which is the state in which humans evolved, are also not crazy, although they don't get much respect.

[AdamI]

sounds good

[Turnbuckle]

From article "In the Columbia Engineering study, the researchers found that, when they encapsulated a polar molecule within a nonpolar fullerene, they could use an external electrical field to transport the molecule@fullerene structures to desired positions and adjust the transport velocity so that both delivery direction and time were controllable." Soo my C60 could accumulate in one part of my body if there is a electrical Field there. Soo like I have my cell phone in my pocket it could attract the c60 to that place ??

These buckyballs with a water inside were driven through a nanochannel, not through solution. They used a field of 0.05 volts per Angstrom, so unless your cell phone runs at 100 million volts, I think you're ok... There is of course no way that you can get a drug molecule into a c60 fullerene. There's a technique called iontophoresis that uses electric fields to drive ions through skin, so the idea of moving compounds with electric fields isn't utterly crazy. There are plenty of molecules in the body that have large dipole moments and might be susceptible to field effects, so the people who advocate grounding yourself when possible, which is the state in which humans evolved, are also not crazy, although they don't get much respect.

From a short description of the process it appears that they started with a C60 derivative that had a hole in it, then forced in a water molecule at high pressure, then chemically modified the C60 to close the hole. No electrical fields were used to prepare it.

[niner]

Oh, sorry, I was a little unclear. I meant they used the field to drive the cage complex through the microchannel.

[hav]

Here's a link to the 2-year old paper that detailed how the water molecule was inserted into the c60... link

I get the distinct impression from this article that the Columbia paper is about a computer simulation, not an actual demonstration. I've seen some speculation that the technique might be used to deliver a radioactive molecule into a target cell for cancer treatment.

Here's an interesting paper published in the UK that actually inserted a larger single molecule magnet into a multi-walled fullerene nanotube to create an ultra high density data-storage device. They mention considering a nitrogen atom inserted into c60 but went with larger magnets and multi-walled nanotubes to accommodate the larger sizes.

Howard

Edited by hav, 09 May 2013 - 04:20 PM.