Nanoreactors are a form of chemical reactor that are particularly in the disciplines of nanotechnology and nanobiotechnology. These special reactors are crucial in maintaining a working nanofoundry; which is essentially a foundry that manufactures products on a nanotechnological scale.
Summary
General information
The term nanoreactor refers to an isolated system on the nanometer scale that is used to run chemical reactions in an environment that differs drastically from a reaction in bulk solution. The synthesis and analysis of these nanoreactors is a highly interdisciplinary subject, spanning from chemistry and physics to biology and materials science. These systems can be synthetic, such as nanopores and hollow nanoparticles, or they can be biological systems, including protein pores and channels. Generally, the effect of confinement provided by these nanoreactors results in novel chemistry. This field has only begun to receive significant attention in the last two decades, and more work is constantly being published as nanoreactors become more sophisticated and begin to show promise for industrial applications.
Researchers in the Netherlands have succeeded in building nanoreactors that can perform one-pot multistep reactions - the next step towards artificial cell-like devices in addition for applications involving the screening and diagnosis of a disease or illness. A biochemical nanoreactor is created simply by unwrapping a biological virus through scientific methods, eliminating its harmful contents, and re-assembling its protein coat around a single molecule of enzyme. The kinetic isotope effect is trapped in a single molecule within a membrane-based nanoreactor. This is a phenomenon that has been found by researchers in the United Kingdom during experiments done in September 2010. The kinetic isotope effect, where the rate of a reaction is influenced by the presence of an isotopic atom in solution, is an important principle for elucidating reaction mechanisms. This recent finding could open up new methods to study chemical reactions. They may even aid in the process of creating new (and even more powerful) nanoreactors.
Using nanocrystals, a scalable and inexpensive process can ultimately create nanoreactors. Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley have the ability to take advantage of the large difference in select components to create these nanocrystals and nanoreactors. Nanocrystals are easier to use and less expensive than methods that employ sacrificial templates in the creation process of hollow particles. Catalyst particles are separated into shells in order to prevent particle aggregation. Selective entry into the catalysis chamber reduces the likelihood of desired products undergoing secondary reactions.
Nanoreactors can also be built by controlling the positioning of two different enzymes in the central water reservoir or the plastic membrane of synthetic nanoscopic bubbles. Once the third enzyme is added into the surrounding solution, it becomes possible for three different enzymatic reactions to occur at once without interfering with each other (resulting in a "one-pot" reaction). The potential for nanoreactors can be demonstrated by binding the enzyme horseradish peroxidase into the membrane itself; trapping the enzyme glucose oxidase. The surrounding solution would end up containing the enzyme lipase B with the glucose molecules containing four acetyl groups as the substrate. The resulting glucose would cross the membrane, become oxidized, and the horseradish peroxidase would convert the sample substrate ABTS (2,2’-azinobis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)) into its radical cation.
Abilities
Nanoreactors can also be used to emulsify water, create hydrofuels (which essentially blends 15% water into the refined diesel product), play a helpful role in the chemical industry by allowing multiple streams of raw materials to exists in a single nanoreactor, manufacture personal care products (i.e., lotions, pharmaceutical creams, shampoos, conditioners, shower gels, deodorants), and improve the food and beverage industries (by processing sauces, purées, cooking bases for soup, emulsifying non-alcoholic beverages, and salad dressings).