Atomic microscopes reveal an organic molecule’s structure
AUG 02, 2010
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.024548
Nature : Leo Gross of IBM’s research center in Zurich, Switzerland, and his coworkers have used an atomic force microscope (AFM) and a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to determine the structure of cephalandole A, an organic molecule found in a deep-sea-dwelling bacterium. Cephalandole A contains three six-membered benzene rings and one five-membered pyrrole ring. Four possible structures had previously been identified. As Nature‘s Philip Ball reports, Gross and his team immobilized molecules of cephalandole A on a crystal surface, then probed their electronic structure with an STM and their shape with an AFM. Drug companies are interested in cephalandole A. One of its chemical relatives, camptothecin, showed promise as an anticancer drug.
© 2010 American Institute of Physics
