A team of researchers at The University of Manchester\u00a0led by Professor David Leigh in Manchester’s School of Chemistry have been successful in producing the most complex regular woven molecule. They braided multiple molecular strands\u00a0such that the tightest knot has eight crossings in a 192-atom closed loop — which is about 20 nanometres long. The team used a technique called \u201cself-assembly,\u201d which means just like knitting, the molecular strands are woven around metal ions at crossing points and the loose ends are secured by a chemical catalyst to form a complete knot. They believe that using this technology can help in developing a new generation of super-strong and flexible materials.<\/p>\n