Chemists weave granny and triple trefoil knots

Triple trefoil knot

Giant molecules with a carbon backbone by synthetic chemistry

Chemists use chemical reactions to synthesise new molecules for many different purposes. This synthetic chemistry is a very creative and challenging process – finding exactly the right conditions to make molecules with the desired shape is a demanding but rewarding task. Giant molecules based on a carbon backbone can be created and made to form particular shapes. In this case chemists have made the molecules into a trefoil shape.

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