From a Meccano set to nano meccano*
J. Fraser Stoddart
California NanoSystems Institute and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
Abstract: The hurly-burly life of a scientific nomad is traced through thick and thin from the Athens of the North to the City of Angels with brief and not so brief interludes on the edge of the Canadian Shield, in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, on the Plains of Cheshire beside the Wirral, and in the Midlands in the heartland of Albion.
Keywords: catenanes; mechanical bond; molecular electronics; molecular machines; molecular recognition; noncovalent interactions; rotaxanes; self-assembly; supramolecular chemistry; template-directed synthesis.
*An issue of reviews and research papers based on lectures presented at the 15th International Conference on Organic Synthesis (ICOS-15), held in Nagoya, Japan, 1-6 August 2004, on the theme of organic synthesis. Other presentations are published in this issue, pp. 1087-1296. This paper is based on the acceptance lecture for the Nagoya Gold Medal.