Soft matter or soft condensed matter is a subfield of condensed matter comprising a variety of physical systems that are deformed or structurally altered by thermal or mechanical stress of the magnitude of thermal fluctuations. They include liquids, colloids, polymers, foams, gels, granular materials, liquid crystals, and a number of biological materials. These materials share an important common feature in that predominant physical behaviors occur at an energy scale comparable with room temperature thermal energy. At these temperatures, quantum aspects are generally unimportant. Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, who has been called the "founding father of soft matter,"[1] received the Nobel Prize in physics in 1991 for discovering that methods developed for studying order phenomena in simple systems can be generalized to the more complex cases found in soft matter, in particular, to the behaviors of liquid crystals and polymers.[2] Contents 1 Distinctive physics 2 Applications 3 Research 4 Related 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

1. 1 1
SOFT MATTERS AND
NANOTECHNOLOGY
JYOTIRMOY ROY
B.Pharm.7
TH
sem
BCDA COLLEGE OF PHARMACY AND TECHNOLOGY
Affiliated to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University Of Technology(
Formerly known As West Bengal University of Technology), Kolkata
78, Jessore Road(South), Hridaypur, Barasat, Kolkata – 700127
2017

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SOFT MATTER AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
Introduction:
In our Universe there are various types of matters whereas it’s solid or liquids or gaseous.
Although here we meets a new State of matters i.e. “SOFT MATTERS “formally we can
say it soft matter physics i.e. when physics meets to the chemistry. Now what is soft matter?
For example: - foam, soap, colloids, polymers, biological membrane, blood, glasses and
very well known about liquid crystals. There are various use of soft matter in worlds in
everyday such as any soap , shampoo ,glasses and also the mobile or desktop’s display and
our body made by various soft matters ,just not on the pharmaceutical field or biophysics
because “Soft matters are very soft “.
Definition:
“Soft matters are flexible multi-molecular systems which respond to very low energy.”
In other terms soft matters may defined as an ordered assembly of molecular chaos. The
soft matters are soft because, they have weak intermolecular forces, weak electrical field
and weak mechanical stress. The terminology is rather broad and that encompasses
polymers, gels, emulsions, foams, liquid crystals, amphiphilic molecules and others .Most
functions in biological systems are in fact the results out of soft matter interplays and
interactions. Enzymes for example are soft matters and the catalytic biotransformation is
the results of substrate non-covalent interactions in the molecular scale. Chemistry in
nanoscale is currently used for structural manipulations in soft matters so as to arrive at
engineered materials, bio-hybrids, conjugate systems and self assembly devices. Similar
changes often results in dramatic functional enhancements. New generation materials
originating from the soft matter nano-chemistry can provides outstanding choices for
applications in highly specialized areas.

3. 1 3
Examples of soft matter
Biological membranes
Biomaterials
Colloids
Complex fluids
Foams
Gels
Granular materials
Liquids
Liquid crystals
Micro emulsions
Polymers
Liposome
Surfactants
Characteristics of Soft matter systems :
 Flexible multi-molecular systems which respond to very low energy.
 They have weak intermolecular forces.
 Weak electrical field and weak mechanical stress.
 Heterogeneous structures.
 Behaviour decided by entropic interactions: Large Thermal fluctuations.
 . Often very non-equilibrium systems: driven systems, active systems.

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Physical properties of soft matters
Thermal Transition:
The glass transition temperature (Tg) is the temperature at which an amorphous polymer
undergoes a change from a rigid solid to a more flexible rubbery material. This temperature
marks the onset of segmental motion in amorphous polymer samples. In semi-crystalline
polymers, both the glass and malt transition temperature (Tm) may be observed since both
amorphous and crystalline domain exist in the polymer structure
.
Viscoelasticity:-
When strain is applied to viscoelastic material, its viscosity results in a strain rate that
depends on time.once the strain is removed, the material will slowly return to its original
configuration.
Example: rubbers
Polymer solution

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Why the soft matters are soft?
1. If a pressure P applied to a soft matter with volume V ,the change of volume will be
V1.
.
now the change o f pressure (P-P1)= ∆ p and volume change will be
(V-V1)= ∆v.
Then ∆ p =-k ∆v /V
Where k is bulk marcellus,
Negative sign for the decreasing of volume due to change of pressure.
Applying a sharing force
i.e. shear stress σ =F/A and strain ϒ =∆X/∆Y X
Shear stress σ=Gϒ .
G = F/A =F.L/A.L =E/ V where , F.L = E , binding energy . Y
=1eV/(0.15nm)3 A.L = V , (Volume ) distance between atom
=1.6x10^-19 J /(0.15x10^-9)3 m ≅ 50GPa . thus K≈3G .
For colloids
G=E/V E=ϏT = tripical interaction energy .
=ϏT/(1μm)3 ≈ 4x10^-21J/ 10^-18 ≈ 4mPa .
i.e. 11 to 12 magnitude softer then solid .
2. Larger link shells
3.Response to stress is large ,nonlinear ,and nonmonitonic .

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4.Dynamics : are slow ,compare to other materials .
D= KbT/ἠa where D = diffusion , ἠ= large viscosity , a= cake (area) .
Types of Soft Matters
Polymers
Polymers, both natural and synthetic, are created via polymerization of many small
molecules.Polymers are a large molecule, or macromolecule, composed of many repeated
subunits known as monomers.They produces unique physical properties,
including toughness, viscoelasticity, and a tendency to
form glasses and semicrystalline structures rather than crystals.
Examples :
Plastic:
Rubbers –PVC
Adhesives-Epoxy resins. Phenol formaldehyde resin.
Lubricants : motor oil
Viscosity modifiers :
Proteins: made up by amino acids (20)
DNA,RNA made up Nucleotides which contains codon ,anticodon ,to make
the different protein in a specific sequence .
.Polysaccharides made up by sugars molecules
Conducting polymers :
Flexible displays

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Colloids
Colloids are fluids containing particles suspended in a liquid. A representative example is milk
which is an emulsified colloid of liquid butterfat globules dispersed within a water-based
solution. In this case, colloidal particles give special physical properties of fluids. The light is
scattered by particles in the colloid and other colloids may be opaque or have a slight color.
These properties can be used in many applications. Paint is also a kind of colloidal dispersions.
The colloidal particles produce the special properties in the solid when the solvent dries.
Particle size : 2nm -2000nm ,Shapes: spheres ,rods ,disks etc . Colloids exhibit Brownian
movement
Examples : paints
Gold sol ,silver sol
Viruses : suspended on blood
Clays

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Properties
Colloids exhibit Brownian movement. Brownian motion is the random motion of particles that
we can easily see under a microscope. This movement is caused by the collision of molecules
with colloidal particles in the dispersion medium. Additionally, colloids display the Tyndall
effect as referred above. When a strong light is shone through a colloidal dispersion, the light
beam becomes visible, like a column of light. A common example of this effect can be seen
when a spotlight is turned on during a foggy night. We can see the spotlight beam because of
the fuzzy trace it makes in the fog which is a colloid.
Stability and Phase Behavior
The interaction energy of colloidal particles is important to decide the behavior of colloids.
Small changes in the solvent can be a huge effect on the interaction energy between two
colloidal particles. That is from a hard-core repulsion to an attraction which is greater than
thermal energy. Colloidal particles can be stabilized mainly by the electrostatic stabilization
and steric stabilization. With such an attraction the particles stick together and there can be
aggregation and sedimentation which hinders the stability. If attractive forces get stronger than
repulsive interaction, particles aggregate in clusters.

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Steric and gel network stabilization.
Applications
Colloids have very important application in our daily life starting from food products to the
medicines to industries like rubber. Some of the applications of colloids are mentioned below.
• Food and medicines: Colloids have great application in food
industries and food stuffs. Many of the food materials which we eat
are of colloidal nature. Milk and also many milk products like
cheese, cream butter etc. are colloids.
Colloids also have applications in the form of medicines. Colloidal
medicines are competitively more effective as they are easily absorbed by the body. That is
way many medicines are emulsion.
Some major antibiotics like penicillin and streptomycin are injected in the body in the form
of colloidal sol so that they would be absorbed by the body easily.
• Water Purification: We know that one of the very popular methods used for water
purification is the addition of electrolytes like potash alum. Addition of these electrolytes is
based on the fact because the impure water in usually a colloidal system. It usually contains
dispersed colloidal particles which cannot be removed by filtration. Addition of these
electrolytes results in coagulation of the impurity which can be separated by filtration then.
• Sewage disposal: As discussed above the sewage water contains impurities like mud and
dirt of colloidal size which are dispersed in the water. Just like any other colloidal system,
the colloidal particles (impurities) of sewage are also charged particles. These charged
particles of impurities present in sewage may be removed by electrophoresis.
For this purpose the sewage water is passed through a tunnel which is fitted with metallic

10. 1 10
electrodes and is maintained at a high potential difference.
The charged particles of impurity present in the sewage water migrate to the oppositely
charged electrodes which results in their coagulation.
• Smoke precipitation: Smoke is also a colloidal system which mainly consists of charged
particles of carbon depressed in air.
Smoke is a big problem for environment as it the major source for air pollution.
Removal of the dispersed colloidal particles from the air will solve the problem. For this
again the process of electrophoresis is used.
This is done in Cottrell precipitator. Smoke is passed through a chamber which contains a
number of metal plates attached to a metal wire connected to high potential source.
The electrically charged colloidal particles of carbon present in air get discharged when
come in contact with the oppositely charged plates and fall down to the bottom. The clean
hot air leaves the precipitator from an exit near the top.
• Artificial rain: Clouds are also colloidal system. In clouds, water vapors are present in
mixture with the dust particles. The water molecules present in cloud have electric charge
on them and are of colloidal size. So, if the charged on the molecules is neutralized
somehow, they will start raining. Sometimes it is done by spraying some electrolytes over
the clouds and the rain resulted from this is called artificial rain.
• Rubber industry: You must know that the rubber is synthesized from the latex obtained from
the rubber trees. This latex is an emulsion in which negatively charged particles of rubber
are dispersed in water.
For obtaining rubber, this latex is boiled because of which the rubber particles get
coagulated. This coagulated mass is then vulcanized to solidify as natural rubber.
• Leather tanning: Tanning is the process of treating the skins of animals to obtain the leather.
Skin of animals is also a colloidal system in which the colloidal particles are positively
charged. During the process, the charged particles of skin are coagulated using negatively
charged material like tannin and some compounds of aluminum and chromium.
• .Cleansing action of soaps: As we have discussed earlier also, the soap solution is a
colloidal system and it removes the oil and dirt by forming water soluble emulsions.
• Smoke screen: Smoke screens are used to hide something by a layer of smoke. In generally
it is used to hide the movement of troops. The smoke screens are also colloidal system in
which the particles of titanium oxide are dispersed in air.

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Colloid crystals
A colloidal crystal is an ordered array of colloid particles, analogous to a
standard crystal whose repeating subunits are atoms or molecules. A natural example of
this phenomenon can be found in the gem opal, where spheres of silica assume a close-
packed locally periodic structure under moderate compression. Bulk properties of a
colloidal crystal depend on composition, particle size, packing arrangement, and degree of
regularity. Applications include photonics, materials processing, and the study of self-
assembly and phase transitions

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Applications: electronic ban gate, display applications etc.
erfacial tension) between two liquids or between a liquid and a solid. Surfactants may act
as detergents, wetting agents, emulsifiers, foaming agents, and dispersants.
Surface Active Agents. Surfactants are wetting agents that lower the surface tension of a liquid,
allowing easier spreading, and lower the interfacial tension between two liquids. Surfactants
are usually organic compounds that are amphiphilic, meaning they contain both hydrophobic
groups (their "tails") and hydrophilic groups (their "heads"). Therefore, they are soluble in both
organic solvents and water.
Properties
Surfactants reduce the surface tension of water by adsorbing at the liquid-gas interface. They
also reduce the interfacial tension between oil and water by adsorbing at the liquid-liquid
interface. Many surfactants can also assemble in the bulk solution into aggregates. Examples
of such aggregates are vesicles and micelles. The concentration at which surfactants begin to
form micelles is known as the critical micelle concentration or CMC. When micelles form in
water, their tails form a core that can encapsulate an oil droplet, and their (ionic/polar) heads
form an outer shell that maintains favorable contact with water. When surfactants assemble in
oil, the aggregate is referred to as a reverse micelle. In a reverse micelle, the heads are in the
core and the tails maintain favorable contact with oil. Surfactants are also often classified into
four primary groups; anionic, cationic, non-ionic, and zwitterionic (dual charge).

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Dynamics of surfactants at interfaces.
The dynamics of surfactant adsorption is of great importance for practical applications such as
in foaming, emulsifying or coating processes, where bubbles or drops are rapidly generated
and need to be stabilized. The dynamics of adsorption depend on the diffusion coefficient of
the surfactant. As the interface is created, the adsorption is limited by the diffusion of the
surfactant to the interface. In some cases, there can exist an energetic barrier to adsorption or
desorption of the surfactant. If such a barrier limits the adsorption rate, the dynamics are said
to be ‘kinetically limited'. Such energy barriers can be due to steric or electrostatic repulsions.
The surface rheology of surfactant layers, including the elasticity and viscosity of the layer,
play an important role in the stability of foams and emulsions.
Applications:
Surfactants play an important role as
cleaning, wetting, dispersing, emulsifying, foaming and anti-foaming agents in many practical
applications and products, including:
• Detergents, Fabric softeners, Emulsions
• Soaps ,Paints ,Adhesives ,Inks ,Anti-fogs ,Laxatives ,
• Agrochemical formulations
• Herbicides (some) ,Insecticides
• Biocides (sanitizers)
• Cosmetics
Liquid crystals
Liquid crystals (LCs) are matter in a state which has properties between those of
conventional liquids and those of solid crystals .
For instance, a liquid crystal may flow like a liquid, but its molecules may be oriented in a
crystal-like way.
There are many different types of liquid-crystal phases, which can be distinguished by their
different optical properties (such as birefringence).
Liquid crystals can be divided into thermotropic, lyotropic and metallotropic phases .
1. Thermotropic phase: Thermotropic phases are those that occur in a certain
temperature range. If the temperature rise is too high, thermal motion will destroy the
delicate cooperative ordering of the LC phase, pushing the material into a conventional
isotropic liquid phase. At too low temperature, most LC materials will form a
conventional crystal.
1. Nematic phase :orintational order
2. Smectic phases : orintatinal + translational order

14. 1 14
3. Chiral phases : twisting order (orintational order but
incomplete translational order )
2. Lyotropic liquid crystals:
A lyotropic liquid crystal consists of two or more components that exhibit liquid-crystalline
properties in certain concentration ranges. In the lyotropic phases, solvent molecules fill the
space around the compounds to provide fluidity to the system.
Structure of lyotropic liquid crystal.
The red heads of surfactant molecules are in contact with water, whereas the tails are immersed
in oil (blue): bilayer (left) and micelle (right).
A compound that has two immiscible hydrophilic and hydrophobic parts within the same
molecule is called an amphiphilic molecule. Many amphiphilic molecules show lyotropic
liquid-crystalline phase sequences depending on the volume balances between the hydrophilic
part and hydrophobic part. These structures are formed through the micro-phase segregation of
two incompatible components on a nanometer scale. Soap is an everyday example of a
lyotropic liquid crystal.
3. Metallotropic liquid crystals:
Liquid crystal phases can also be based on low-melting inorganic phases like ZnCl2 that have
a structure formed of linked tetrahedra and easily form glasses. The addition of long chain
soap-like molecules leads to a series of new phases that show a variety of liquid crystalline
behaviour both as a function of the inorganic-organic composition ratio and of temperature.
4. Biological liquid crystals:
Lyotropic liquid-crystalline phases are abundant in living systems, the study of which is
referred to as lipid polymorphism. Accordingly, lyotropic liquid crystals attract particular
attention in the field of biomimetic chemistry. In particular, biological membranes and cell
membranes are a form of liquid crystal.
 Applications of liquid crystals :
 In liquid crystal displays, which rely on the optical properties of certain liquid
crystalline substances in the presence or absence of an electric field .
 Liquid crystal tunable filters are used as electrooptical devices,[
e.g.,
in hyperspectral imaging.
 Many common fluids, such as soapy water, are in fact liquid crystals. Soap
forms a variety of LC phases depending on its concentration in water.

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A granular material is a conglomeration of
discrete solid, macroscopic particles characterized by a loss of energy whenever the particles
interact (the most common example would be friction when grains collide).The constituents
that compose granular material must be large enough such that they are not subject to thermal
motion fluctuations. Thus, the lower size limit for grains in granular material is about 1 µm.
On the upper size limit, the physics of granular materials may be applied to ice floes where the
individual grains are icebergs and to asteroid belts of the Solar System with individual grains
being asteroids.
Some examples of granular materials are snow, nuts, coal, sand, rice, coffee, corn
flakes, fertilizer and ball bearings. Powders are a special class of granular material due to their
small particle size, which makes them more cohesive and more easily suspended in a gas.
Granular materials are commercially important in applications as diverse

16. 1 16
as pharmaceutical industry, agriculture, and energy production.
Complex fluids
Complex fluids are binary mixtures that have a coexistence between two phases: solid–
liquid (suspensions or solutions of macromolecules such as polymers), solid–gas
(granular), liquid–gas (foams) or liquid–liquid (emulsions).
They exhibit unusual mechanical responses to applied stress or strain due to the
geometrical constraints that the phase coexistence imposes.
The mechanical response includes transitions between solid-like and fluid-like behaviour
as well as fluctuations.
Their mechanical properties can be attributed to characteristics such as high disorder,
caging, and clustering on multiple length scales.
The dynamics of the particles in complex fluids are an area of current research. Energy lost due
to friction may be a nonlinear function of the velocity and normal forces. The topological
inhibition to flow by the crowding of constituent particles is a key element in these systems.
Under certain conditions, including high densities and low temperatures, when externally
driven to induce flow, complex fluids are characterized by irregular intervals of solid-like
behavior followed by stress relaxations due to particle rearrangements. The dynamics of these
systems are highly nonlinear in nature. The increase in stress by an infinitesimal amount or a
small displacement of a single particle can result in the difference between an arrested state
and fluid-like behavior.
Shaving cream is an example of a complex fluid.

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Microemulsions
Microemulsions are clear, thermodynamically stable, isotropic liquid mixtures of oil, water
and surfactant, frequently in combination with a cosurfactant. Particle size :1 to 100 nm,
usually 10 to 50 nm in diameter .
The aqueous phase may contain salt(s) and/or other ingredients, and the "oil" may actually be
a complex mixture of different hydrocarbons and olefins.
In contrast to ordinary emulsions, microemulsions form upon simple mixing of the
components and do not require the high shear conditions generally used in the formation of
ordinary emulsions.
The three basic types of microemulsions are direct (oil dispersed in water, o/w), reversed
(water dispersed in oil, w/o) and bicontinuous.

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Uses:
Water-in-oil microemulsions for some dry cleaning processes
Floor polishers and cleaners
Personal care products
Pesticide formulations
Cutting oils
And In various pharmaceutical formulations
Biomaterial
Biomaterial is any substance that has been engineered to interact with biological systems
for a medical purpose - either a therapeutic (treat, augment, repair or replace a tissue
function of the body) or a diagnostic one.
The study of biomaterials is called biomaterials science or biomaterials engineering.
Biomaterials science encompasses elements of medicine, biology, chemistry, tissue
engineering and materials science.
Biomaterials can be derived either from nature or synthesized in the laboratory using a
variety of chemical approaches utilizing metallic
components, polymers, ceramics or composite materials.
They are often used and/or adapted for a medical application, and thus comprises whole or
part of a living structure or biomedical device which performs, augments, or replaces a
natural function.

19. 1 19
Biomaterials are used in:
Joint replacements
Bone plates
Intraocular lenses (IOLs) for eye surgery
Bone cement
Artificial ligaments and tendons
Dental implants for tooth fixation
Blood vessel prostheses
Heart valves
Skin repair devices (artificial tissue)
Cochlear replacements
Contact lenses
Biological membrane
A biological membrane or biomembrane is an enclosing or separating membrane that
acts as a selectively permeable barrier within living things.
Biological membranes, in the form of eukaryotic cell membranes, consist of
a phospholipids bilayer with embedded, integral and peripheral proteins used in
communication and transportation of chemicals and ions.
The bulk of lipid in a cell membrane provides a fluid matrix for proteins to rotate and
laterally diffuse for physiological functioning.
Proteins are adapted to high membrane fluidity environment of lipid bilayer with the
presence of an annular lipid shell, consisting of lipid molecules bound tightly to surface
of integral membrane proteins.
The cell membranes are different from the isolating tissues formed by layers of cells, such
as mucous membranes, basement membranes, and serous membranes.

20. 1 20
Applications of soft matters
 Soft materials are important in a wide range of technological applications.
 They may appear as structural and packaging materials, foams and adhesives,
detergents and cosmetics, paints, food additives, lubricants and fuel additives, rubber
in tires, etc.
 In addition, a number of biological materials (blood, muscle, milk, yogurt, jell) are
classifiable as soft matter.
 Liquid crystals, another category of soft matter, exhibit a responsively to electric fields
that make them very important as materials in display devices (LCDs).
 Soft matters, such as polymers and lipids have found applications in nanotechnology as
well.

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CONCLUSION
The soft matters are soft because they have weak intermolecular forces, weak electrical field
and weak mechanical stress. The terminology is rather broad and that encompasses polymers,
gels, emulsions, foams, liquid crystals, amphiphilic molecules and others .Most functions in
biological systems are in fact the results out of soft matter interplays and interactions. Enzymes
for example are soft matters and the catalytic biotransformation are the results of substrate non-
covalent interactions in the molecular scale .chemistry in nanoscale is currently used for
structural manipulations in soft matters so as to arrive at engineered materials, bio hybrids ,
conjugate systems and self assembly devices . Similar changes often results in dramatic
functional enhancements. New generation materials originating from the soft matter nano-
chemistry can provides outstanding choices for applications in highly specialized areas.

22. 1 22
References
• I. Hamley, Introduction to Soft Matter (2nd edition), J. Wiley, Chichester (2000).
• R. A. L. Jones, Soft Condensed Matter, Oxford University Press, Oxford (2002).
• T. A. Witten (with P. A. Pincus), Structured Fluids: Polymers, Colloids, Surfactants,
Oxford (2004).
• M. Kleman and O. D. Lavrentovich, Soft Matter Physics: An Introduction, Springer
(2003).
• M. Mitov, Sensitive Matter: Foams, Gels, Liquid Crystals and Other Miracles, Harvard
University Press (2012).
• J. N. Israelachvili, Intermolecular and Surface Forces, Academic Press (2010).
• A. V. Zvelindovksy (editor), Nanostructured Soft Matter - Experiment, Theory,
Simulation and Perspectives, Springer/Dodrecht (2007), ISBN 978-1-4020-6329-9.

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• M. Daoud, C.E. Williams (editors), Soft Matter Physics, Springer Verlag, Berlin
(1999).
• Gerald H. Ristow, Pattern Formation in Granular Materials, Springer Tracts in
Modern Physics, v. 161. Springer, Berlin (2000). ISBN 3-540-66701-6.
• de Gennes, Pierre-Gilles, Soft Matter, Nobel Lecture, December 9, 1991.
• S. A. Safran,Statistical thermodynamics of surfaces, interfaces and membranes,
Westview Press (2003)
• Soft Matter - Royal Society of Chemistry www.rsc.org