Letter abstract
Nature Nanotechnology 2, 422 - 425 (2007)
Published online: 1 July 2007 | doi:10.1038/nnano.2007.187
Subject Categories: Carbon nanotubes and fullerenes | Surface patterning and imaging
Imaging the dynamic behaviour of individual retinal chromophores confined inside carbon nanotubes
Zheng Liu1, Kazuhiro Yanagi2, Kazu Suenaga1, Hiromichi Kataura2 & Sumio Iijima1
Abstract
Retinal is the molecule found in photoreceptor cells that undergoes a change in shape when it absorbs light. Specifically, the cis/trans isomerization of a carbon–carbon double bond in this chromophore sets in motion the chain of biochemical processes responsible for vision1, 2, 3. Here, we obtain atomically resolved images of individual structural isomers of the retinal chromophore attached to C60 molecules and study their dynamic behaviour inside a confined space—that is, inside single-walled carbon nanotubes—using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). Sequential HR-TEM images with sub-second time resolution directly reveal the isomerization between the cis and all-trans forms of retinal, as well as conformational changes and volume-conserving effects. This work opens up the possibility of investigating in vitro the biological activities of these photoresponsive molecules on an individual basis, and the molecular imaging technique described here is a general one that can be applied to a wide range of systems.
- Research Center for Advanced Carbon Materials, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba 305-8565, Japan
- Nanotechnology Research Institute (NRI), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba 305-8562, Japan
Correspondence to: Kazu Suenaga1 e-mail: suenaga-kazu@aist.go.jp
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