Yesterday, LiveScience reported that organic chemist Abraham Shanzer and his colleagues at Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovat, Israel, have managed to create a single molecule keypad lock.
According to the details available at LiveScience site, though, it seems like they are using three molecules for making this possible.
A FLIP molecule, whose core consists of a component which binds to iron, plays the central role. And, you need to attach a couple of molecules to it, which can glow either blue or green.
How does it work? You need to expose the lock to a sequence of chemicals, followed by UV light.
If the sequence is Alkaline molecule + UV Light, the device emits blue light.
If the sequence is Acid + Alkaline + UV Light, the device emits green light.
This is how the prototype has been built, but it is just one possible way of doing this.
Obviously, more complex devices can be designed using this same principle.

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The title may be a bit misleading, since Dawood Parker, a father of three, is running a company named Whitland Research.
The company developed a tiny fiber optic gadget which will reach into the heart and monitor the oxygen levels in the blood.
So, how does it work? According to Professor Parker (yes, a former professor of Physics – he used to teach at University of Wales), when blood is well-oxygenated, it is red, and reflected light which comes back will have a double hump. However, when it is not oxygenated, it turns purple, and the reflected light will have a single hump.
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? In fact, this has been a known fact for years, but nobody could make a practical device on the basis of these facts.
Until Prof Parker and his tiny company stepped in.
According to Prof Parker, the deal was less than $10 million. If I had to hazard a guess, it should be between 7 and 10 million US $…
And, who bought it? An MNC from California, that is all the professor can reveal at this stage.
So, for the rest of us, it is waiting time till mid-2007, when the company is supposed to launch the product.