Manchester scientists synthesise “Star of David” molecule

In the culmination of over a quarter of a century’s work, a Ph.D. student at the University of Manchester’s School of Chemistry has successfully created a molecule whose atomic structure perfectly matches the shape of the ‘Star of David’ symbol.

This unique particle, the most complex of its kind ever produced, is built from two interweaving triangular molecules, each containing just 114 atoms. The triangles are entwined about each other three times, forming a hexagram. The process by which the triangles were weaved around each other at the same time as their formation, called self-assembly, is not too dissimilar to how the double helix is formed in DNA molecules.

The molecule was created by Ph.D. student Alex Stephens and details of the synthesis were published in the journal Nature Chemistry.

Professor David Leigh of the School of Chemistry said: “It was a great day when Alex finally got it in the lab.

“In nature, biology already uses molecular chainmail to make the tough, light shells of certain viruses and now we are on the path towards being able to reproduce its remarkable properties.”

The research team are not stopping here though, and hope to go on to synthesise even larger and more elaborate molecules in the future. Professor Leigh expressed his belief that this is just further progress towards creating materials with exciting new properties that could have some very interesting applications.

“It’s the next step on the road to man-made molecular chainmail, which could lead to the development of new materials which are light, flexible and very strong. Just as chainmail was a breakthrough over heavy suits of armour in medieval times, this could be a big step towards materials created using nanotechnology. I hope this will lead to many exciting developments in the future.”