RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

摘要

The name Ouroboros, given by the ancient Greeks to a mythological serpent that bites its own tail, has now been bestowed on a molecular capsule that can similarly capture and release the end of its own arm to close and open an internal cavity (pictured).rnFabien Durola and Julius Rebek at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, synthesized the ouroborand molecule, which consists of a bucket-shaped cavity and a rotating arm. The arm attaches to a bipyridyl unit on one end and bears a guest molecule on the other. The arm reaches over and places the guest in the cavity, closing it off.