New Family of Nano-Sized Compounds Found

U.S. researchers say their discovery of a new family of pseudo-metallic chemicals may change how disease is fought and electronic materials are created.

The University of Missouri-Columbia research team found a way to manipulate a molecule discovered 50 years ago, giving it metal-like properties and creating a new, pseudo element.

The study, led by Fred Hawthorne, director of the university’s International Institute for Nano and Molecular Medicine, and Assistant Professor Mark Lee, was based on their earlier discovery of an extremely stable molecule consisting of 12 boron and 12 hydrogen atoms. Known as boron cages, those molecules were difficult to change or manipulate.

But now the researchers found a way to modify the cages, resulting in a new family of nano-sized compounds.

The electron transfer properties of this new family of molecules span the entire range of those found within living systems, said Lee. That allows the pseudo-metals to be used as specific probes in living systems to detect or treat early stage disease.

This single discovery could open entirely new fields of study because of the controlled variability of the compounds, Lee added.

The research appears in the journal Angewandte Chemie.