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Electron microscopy

Molecular freeze frame

Nature Nanotechnology volume 2, pages 391–392 (2007)Cite this article

High-resolution images of shape changes in retinal — a molecule that plays a key role in vision — allow us to see what happens when we see.

The equations necessary for describing the energy, kinetics and dynamics of individual molecules have existed for almost a century. Most experimental tools, however, measure macroscopic quantities, such as the specific heat, polarization or magnetization, which reflect the average behaviour of a large number of atoms and molecules and provide only indirect confirmation of the laws that describe their motion. In this respect, the development of high-resolution microscopes capable of imaging the motion of individual atoms and molecules could play a major role in verifying theories of molecular dynamics. The main challenge is to capture the relatively fast motion of molecules, which occurs on a time scale of picoseconds.

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Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the cis–trans isomerization of retinal — an important molecule in the vision process — attached to a C60 molecule.

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  1. Young Kuk is in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-747, Korea. ykuk@phya.snu.ac.kr,

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  1. Young Kuk
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Kuk, Y. Molecular freeze frame. Nature Nanotech 2, 391–392 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2007.198

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