There is an abstract for a paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society that just pokes you in the eye and says "Not only is this amazing chemistry but traditional publishing just doesn't fully show the awesomeness of the reaction".
At it's simplest level they created a molecule that reversibly breaks a bond when exposed to light. What is cool is the video that goes along with the paper.
Now, photochromic bond dissociation is the cornerstone of the whole discipline of photochemistry (essentially the whole area can be summarized by the statement "Look! We took expensive pure starting materials and shone harsh UV light on them to make complex sewage, we then spent years extracting components from the sewage"). What makes us chemists all giggly about this molecule is the speed of UV capture, bond dissociation and re-association and the fact that the molecule does NOT degrade to sewage. That and the fact that there is the uber cool video showing the whole process.
Why do you care? You know that irritating commercial with the smug near future family that walks outside and their sunglasses immediately turn dark? Now connect the dots and see the bunny. The future is now.
No comments:
Post a Comment