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Research shows how metal surfaces could be re-shaped by chiral (left or right handed) molecules.
http://phys.org/news/2016-02-nature-mirrorthe-code-chirality.html#nRlvHow information is transferred from biological molecules to crystalline surfaces could pave the way for the development of new drugs and other synthetic materials.
New research, published today in Nature Chemistry, explains how biological molecules can change the shape of minerals by controlling how they link together.
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"In the biological world, we see inorganic minerals being shaped with remarkable control but until now we haven't understood how it was happening at the level of the atoms," explains Professor Hofer.
"Now we see that the organic molecules are acting as a scaffold, dictating where the atoms of the minerals are placed and how they are linked together - a bit like building blocks. And as they do this, the biomolecules transfer their left or right-handed nature, or chirality, to the crystal structure.
"By understanding this process, we can now force materials to behave in a certain way, using biological plans to create the shapes and structures that we want. This has huge potential in the fields of materials design and drug synthesis."
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