Archives - Chemistry: Page 6
Author: paul carson (Fri Feb 16, 2007 4:03 pm)
Title: CHEMISTRY
Chemistry
Proteins are nature’s nanomachines, tirelessly carrying out myriad biological task. Because proteins are made of flexible chains of amino acids that fold up in a very complicated way, scientist cannot easily predict a new protein’s shape (and hence its function).
Now chemists have developed novel molecular building blocks, called bis-amino acids, that join together to form proteinlike structures that have rigid, readily predictable and designable shapes.
Potential applications for these “bis-peptides” include medicines, enzymes for catalyzing useful reactions, chemical sensors, nanoscale valves and computer storage devices.
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