Nanogold at the end of the rainbow

“The best nanoproducts exist in nature, and if we can simulate them for the marketplace, we’ve got it made,” said Professor P. Somasundaran of Columbia University at the 2007 Chem Show in New York on Wednesday.
There were assorted interested parties participating in the Nanotechnology and Nano-Bio Workshop and Symposium at the Jacob Javits Center.
Representatives of textiles, coatings, several federal agencies, including the Federal Drug Administration, measurement scientists, battery makers, medical device designers, chemical suppliers, patent attorneys, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs came to the all-day talk.
The common ground for these folks is they see a future for nanotechnology and they want to be ready and to get a piece of the action.
Somasundaran’s keynote address kicked the discussions off. His point was the simplest and most natural phenomenon can be tip-offs to future profitable product development.
“My first impression of this concept was in my homeland of India when I was child,” he said, “In our yard was a tree, a Mimosa tree, and when the sheep tried to eat the blossoms, the flowers would fold up, wilt, and display thorns almost instantly. This warded off the offending animal.”
Somasundaran is La von Duddleson Krumb Professor in the Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Director of the Langmuir Center for Colloids & Interfaces and founding director of the National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Center for Advanced Studies in Novel Surfactants.
Examples of nanotechnology in modern use are the manufacture of polymers using molecular structure and the design of computer chip layouts.
There is some promise of nanotechnologies such as quantum dots and nanotubes.
Real commercial applications mainly use colloidal nanoparticles in bulk form, such as suntan lotion, cosmetics, protective coatings, and stain resistant clothing.
—Nicholas Sheble