Nano-(insert wanky name here)

A self-confessed arachnophobe, I totally detest spiders... Having said that, I will now reveal the chemical structure of the smallest known arachnid, known as nanospider. I thought I'd contribute to the already burgeoning list of stupidly named molecules I've encountered including nanokid, nanoscholar and nanocar (Nano Lett. 2005, 5, 2330).

The cis-2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9-octaethylazacyclononane molecule (note the cis-stereochemistry of all the ethyl groups) incorporates 8 flexible ethyl legs as well as a pair of electronic eyes (I know spiders have eight, but meh..whatever) located in an sp3 hybrid orbital. In contrast to the Lewis structure I have given, Spartan predicts four of the spiders legs to be above the mean plane and four below it....making for a really uncoordinated look...so yeah...lets just ignore that! Nanospider loves organic media - it can spin graphitic webs of beautiful symmetry and high strength in no time ;)

The first person to prepare nanospider (pls send 1H NMR and ESI-MS spectra) will receive a free cookie from me...and if that wasn't motivation enough, you can be third author (after bunsen and myself) on the resulting Nature paper!

Bkr