The Space Elevator -A Nano-Rope Strong Enough to Haul Things into Outer Space
This article from 2008 mentions the use of Organic Compounds to 'tag' desired nanoparticles and molecules produced through the current 'shake-and-bake' approach to assembling such things. By tagging the desired compounds/molecule, the producers of such nanoparticles can get them all sorted out into neat groupings that will allow them to accumulate the ones deemed suitable for specific tasks. It's a lot like all of a sudden inventing the Dewey Decimal System or being able to apply XML tags to the contents of a blog, book or broadsheet.
It's things like this that really bring it home, just how new all this really is--that we're still at the level of inventing the means to use this newfangled 'wheel.' Without roads, axles, brakes or a million other developments to support, augment, enhance and accommodate the initial invention, it doesn't go very far. Not right away.
But once the support system is in-place, watch out. The sky will no longer be the limit.
But what other uses could a system of tags composed of organic compounds be put to, besides sorting-out nanoparticles?
Hmmm...might be something to go and do some more research on, doesn't it?