Which is more valuable—a bar of gold or a nanometer-sized particle of gold? At one-billionth of a millimeter, the nanoparticle of gold seems inconsequential. But in terms of its potential impact, the nanoparticle is a jewel.

“Nanotechnology is a relatively new word, but research on molecules has been around for hundreds of years,” explains Francisco Raymo, associate professor of chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Raymo is among a group of UM scientists who are researching materials like gold, platinum, cadmium, and various polymers and compounds that range in size from 1 to 200 nanometers. By comparison, the width of a single human hair is a mammoth 100,000 nanometers. These materials, when reduced to such tiny, confined parameters, behave very differently from their larger counterparts. “It’s like putting a law-abiding citizen into prison to see if he will eventually become violent,” explains Vaidhyanathan Ramamurthy, chemistry department chair. UM chemists are exploring the behaviors and potential applications of nanoparticles in the department’s Center for Supramolecular Science, which houses state-of-the-art laboratories, including a “clean room” with special filters to eradicate any dust particles that could send such precise calculations awry.

Raymo, with graduate student Ibrahim Yildiz and postdoc Massimilliano Tomasulo, Ph.D. ’06, recently published a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences demonstrating that luminescent nanoparticles called quantum dots are effective for targeting cancer cells and other biological maladies. The University’s Office of Technology Transfer has filed two patent applications for this discovery.

Besides its medical potential, nanotechnology already has enhanced our modern world. Car bumpers that are stronger, hard drives that store more data, sunglasses that reduce glare, and clothing that resists stains—all are the products of nanotechnology.

“We saw about 2,000 new startups in the past two years,” says Adam Kalish, B.S.C. ’98, a partner at Lux Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in nanotechnology companies. “Today tools exist that allow scientists to actually create new materials atom by atom. One of the greatest benefits is bio-mimicry, or replicating Mother Nature—whether it’s surfaces that repel water like a lotus leaf or new adhesives made with synthetic setae, the billions of little hairs on a gecko’s feet that allow it to stick to walls.”

With more “nano-enhanced” products added to the market every day, the economic impact of nano-technology is projected to be in the trillions, according to Lux Research. In terms of human progress, as well as economic benefit, this translates to a potential gold mine for those who are thinking beyond the bar.