Your first question concerns whether it is possible to make artificial molecules. The answer depends on your definition on what is artificial and what is natural. To make it simple, if you decide that "I want to make a molecule that looks like this", which is a common task in research and industry, the answer is generally yes, but you have to keep in mind the restrictions because of the underlying chemistry. Is it at all possible that a molecule can look like the one you want to make? There are a set of "rules" because of the chemistry, for example it might not be possible to link two atoms to eachother even if you would like to. The process of building up a molecule that you want to make is called synthesis. To answer the question more clearly, yes it is absolutely possible to make a molecule that you would (probably) not find in nature. You can even design the molecule so that it has got the structure you want it to have, if the underlying chemistry allows it.
Your second question is wheter you can do it "from complete scratch". This is also a matter of definition, what do you mean by "complete scratch"? If you mean that you for example start to build up a hydrogen by go getting a proton and an electron and so on...the answer must be no. But you can do it with relatively simple starting materials. In practice you preferably start with a molecule that looks quite similar to the molecule you want to make. Then, using different operations you can remove, add or modify groups of the molecule to end up with the one you wanted to produce.
I will now give you two examples of artificial (bio)molecules which can really be seen as man-made. Maybe you know that DNA is built up by the four bases A, T, C and G. Modified DNA-bases have been developed, that can be incorporated in the DNA-molecule instead of the naturally occuring base and the properties of the modified base can be used for different purposes, e.g. detection.
Another biomolecule is protein, which is built up by a large number of the 20 naturally occuring amino acids. By incorporating modified amino acids instead of the naturally occuring ones, you can for example facilitate structural- or interaction-studies of the protein.
I hope that you are satisfied with the explanation. If not, feel free to ask again!
Your first question concerns whether it is possible to make artificial molecules. The answer depends on your definition on what is artificial and what is natural. To make it simple, if you decide that "I want to make a molecule that looks like this", which is a common task in research and industry, the answer is generally yes, but you have to keep in mind the restrictions because of the underlying chemistry. Is it at all possible that a molecule can look like the one you want to make? There are a set of "rules" because of the chemistry, for example it might not be possible to link two atoms to eachother even if you would like to. The process of building up a molecule that you want to make is called synthesis. To answer the question more clearly, yes it is absolutely possible to make a molecule that you would (probably) not find in nature. You can even design the molecule so that it has got the structure you want it to have, if the underlying chemistry allows it.
Your second question is wheter you can do it "from complete scratch". This is also a matter of definition, what do you mean by "complete scratch"? If you mean that you for example start to build up a hydrogen by go getting a proton and an electron and so on...the answer must be no. But you can do it with relatively simple starting materials. In practice you preferably start with a molecule that looks quite similar to the molecule you want to make. Then, using different operations you can remove, add or modify groups of the molecule to end up with the one you wanted to produce.
I will now give you two examples of artificial (bio)molecules which can really be seen as man-made. Maybe you know that DNA is built up by the four bases A, T, C and G. Modified DNA-bases have been developed, that can be incorporated in the DNA-molecule instead of the naturally occuring base and the properties of the modified base can be used for different purposes, e.g. detection.
Another biomolecule is protein, which is built up by a large number of the 20 naturally occuring amino acids. By incorporating modified amino acids instead of the naturally occuring ones, you can for example facilitate structural- or interaction-studies of the protein.
I hope that you are satisfied with the explanation. If not, feel free to ask again!
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Hello ARK and welcome to the MoleClues forum!
Your first question concerns whether it is possible to make artificial molecules. The answer depends on your definition on what is artificial and what is natural. To make it simple, if you decide that "I want to make a molecule that looks like this", which is a common task in research and industry, the answer is generally yes, but you have to keep in mind the restrictions because of the underlying chemistry. Is it at all possible that a molecule can look like the one you want to make? There are a set of "rules" because of the chemistry, for example it might not be possible to link two atoms to eachother even if you would like to. The process of building up a molecule that you want to make is called synthesis. To answer the question more clearly, yes it is absolutely possible to make a molecule that you would (probably) not find in nature. You can even design the molecule so that it has got the structure you want it to have, if the underlying chemistry allows it.
Your second question is wheter you can do it "from complete scratch". This is also a matter of definition, what do you mean by "complete scratch"? If you mean that you for example start to build up a hydrogen by go getting a proton and an electron and so on...the answer must be no. But you can do it with relatively simple starting materials. In practice you preferably start with a molecule that looks quite similar to the molecule you want to make. Then, using different operations you can remove, add or modify groups of the molecule to end up with the one you wanted to produce.
I will now give you two examples of artificial (bio)molecules which can really be seen as man-made. Maybe you know that DNA is built up by the four bases A, T, C and G. Modified DNA-bases have been developed, that can be incorporated in the DNA-molecule instead of the naturally occuring base and the properties of the modified base can be used for different purposes, e.g. detection.
Another biomolecule is protein, which is built up by a large number of the 20 naturally occuring amino acids. By incorporating modified amino acids instead of the naturally occuring ones, you can for example facilitate structural- or interaction-studies of the protein.
I hope that you are satisfied with the explanation. If not, feel free to ask again!