Spinach chlorophyll stars in molecular movie

Filed in archive Research on September 7, 2006

It may not win best picture at next year's Oscars, but a team of Ohio University physicists have captured the fascinating results of an experiment in molecular engineering in a movie.

The video shows a single chlorophyll-a molecule from a spinach plant being transformed into four different configurations by injecting electrons. By changing the configuration of the molecule, the Ohio University team was able to create a molecular switch with possible applications in medicine, energy and biology.

"It's important to understand something about the chlorophyll-a molecule for origin of life and solar energy conversion issues," said Ohio University associate professor of physics Saw-Wai Hla, co-investigator on the project with colleague Violeta Iancu.

The movie reveals how organic matter can be engineered, and depicting a single molecule transformed by human engineering certainly offers a fascinating window into the rapidly converging worlds of biotechnology and nanotechnology. (photo Violeta Iancu and Saw-Wai Hla)