The National Science Foundation (NSF) plans to fund what it
calls Chemical Bonding Centers (CBC). The foundation indicated that the three centers hope to solve major chemistry problems
of the day. In order to accomplish that goal, the organization plans to create a risk tolerant environment for those that
think “far outside the box.” Philip B. Shevlin, CBC program manager, expanded on that theme, "to encourage very
talented people to attack major problems that would engage the public and have a long-term societal benefit -- and be something
they are not already doing."
The three centers, which are to be based at the California Institute
of Technology, Columbia University and the University of California at Irvine, plan to find economical ways of storing solar
energy, to visually explain molecular behavior and develop nanoscale molecular machines for applications such as drug delivery.
The CBC award, which is funded through NSF's Division of Chemistry,
provides each center $1.5 million for a three year period and then will award the centers with the highest potential a Phase
II award, which can be as much as $2 million to $3 million per year for a period of up to three years.
The NSF also detailed the operations of the three centers. Storing
sunlight in chemical bonds is to be the challenge of those from Caltech, which include Caltech chemist Harry B Gray. The focus
of the research there is to find a way to enable sunlight to “split water into its higher energy building blocks, hydrogen
and oxygen.”
Molecular machines will be the endeavor of the CBC Center for Molecular
Cybernetics. The effort is to be headed by Columbia University's Milan N. Stojanovic. Others organizations that the NSF lists
as involved in the project include Columbia; Boston University; Caltech; the Universities of Michigan, Chicago, and New Mexico;
and the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.
The molecular machine group will attempt to devise a way to
create synthetic molecular machines that use chemical bond transformation as a power source. Specifically indicated was a
method that permits molecules to move across a surface in a controlled manner through the use of chemical structures with
DNA appendages for applications in drug delivery and nanopatterning.
The third center, focused on The Inner Workings of Molecules, is
to be led by UC Irvine chemist Shaul Mukamel. He will lead researchers at Irvine and UC Santa Barbara. It was indicated that
the group plans to delve into real-time molecular operation with techniques that involve single atom resolution. The end result
of the project is to develop a system that captures real-time images of molecules as they actually combine and react with
other. The visualization of such processes is expected to enable a better understanding of molecular reactions and could serve
as an outstanding education tool for children and adults alike. One example is the molecular transfer of electrical charge,
which could be fundamental to the understanding of molecular based electronic systems.
The National Science Foundation has an annual budget of $5.47 billion.
The independent federal agency funds universities and institutions in the United States and makes approximately 11,000 new
funding awards a year. Additionally, the agency reports that it awards over $200 million in professional and service contracts
yearly.
