Novel technique selects molecules according to their chemical properties and dimensions
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - 07:50
in Physics & Chemistry
Separating molecules is an important part of many manufacturing and testing processes, including pharmaceutical production and some biomedical tests. One way of carrying out such separation is by using nanofilters -- materials with holes of a precisely controlled tiny diameter, to allow molecules up to that size to pass through while blocking any that are larger. But a new system devised by researchers at MIT could add an important new capability: a way to selectively filter out molecules of the same size that have different chemical properties.