Chemists explore the power of one
Service, R.F.
Science 276(5315): 1027-1029
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 9173536 Document Number: 473046
Chemists are discovering answers to long-standing questions by following the behavior of individual molecules as they react. In recent years, a small number of researchers around the world have started to use new techniques--which often depend on tiny samples, lasers, and sophisticated light detectors--to reveal how individual molecules behave in reactions. By observing the behavior of molecules one at a time, these new techniques have an unparalleled ability to uncover the precise timing of molecular events. At the recent American Chemical Society meeting held in San Francisco, researchers presented an array of new results demonstrating how monitoring single molecules can elucidate intractable scientific problems ranging from why all molecules of an enzyme do not work at the same rate to what limits the lifetime of new computer-display polymers.