Nanotubes that Form ‘Nanocarpets’
Roland Piquepaille writes "By mixing a salt compound with an hydrocarbon, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have created molecules able to sense their environment. Then they used these molecules to develop self-assembling nanotubes which look like that 'nanocarpets'. These nanostructures can change colors when their environment is modified and can be trained to kill bacteria, such as E. coli. Now, they plan to develop products that would both detect and destroy biological weapons. Read more for selected excerpts about these nanostructures acting as biosensors."
January 29th, 2005 at 7:31 AM
But what is it really good for?
This sounds like yet another example of over the top nano-hype. If the nanotubes puncture the wall of bacteria then what is to prevent them from penetrating the walls of animal or plant cells? This is an important question because one of the most common causes of E. coli contamination is in beef. What happens to the flavor, texture, etc. of the food if you puncture the cell walls? What happens to the ability of the cell contents to resist oxidation? There are any number of tests now to demonstrate the presence of bacteria and/or viruses (PCR and ELISA being the classic examples). How are nanotube carpets better? It certainly doesn't seem that they would be as specific in identification (as are PCR and ELISA tests).
Yes its nice that chemists can create a self-assembling nanocarpet but it would appear they need to learn a bit more about microbiology before they start claiming applications in that field.