Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York

Childhood memories cause a nanotechnologist to go nuts for plant-derived nanomaterials.

As a child growing up in Kerala, southern India, I marvelled at the unusual cashew fruit, with its kidney-shaped nut dangling from a swollen apple.

Since then, nanotechnology has become my passion. So it was with a curious mix of scientific interest and childhood memories that I read a recent paper describing how nanomaterials could be derived from plant sources such as the cashew nut.

I had never thought of a cashew nut as anything more than a food item. However, a little research reveals that cashew-nut-shell liquid, rich in natural long-chain phenols, already has applications ranging from hydrophobic coatings to anti-ageing creams.

George John and Praveen Kumar Vemula at the City College of New York, in their recent article (G. John & P. K. Vemula Soft Matter 2, 909–914; 2006), show how cashew-nut-shell liquid can also serve as a starting material for a variety of nanostructures.

The oil contains molecules that have phenol groups for heads, and long hydrocarbon tails. These can form structures such as lipid nanotubes and twisted nanofibres.

To make this happen, the molecules’ structure is first modified by attaching water-loving sugar groups to the phenols. The cooperative effect of head groups hydrogen bonding and the hydrophobic interactions of the tails leads the molecules to self assemble into bilayers. These then further organize into the fibres and tubes.

Using a similar strategy, it should be possible to develop a wide range of novel soft nanomaterials from other plant resources. The breadth of precursors available in our plants and crops should inspire all nanotechnologists — not just those fond of cashew nuts.