Редактирование: Molecular manufacturing (раздел)

=== Overview ===

[[File:Mechanosynthesis of fullerene.jpg|thumb|left|Mechanosynthesis of an atomically-precise nanotube]]

The rapid, atomically-precise construction of macroscale objects of varied molecular structures is the eventual goal of molecular nanotechnology. The paper presents the more modest and specific objective of ultra-high-vacuum-based diamondoid mechanosynthesis using the positional control granted by an [[#Scanning Probe Microscope|Scanning Probe Microscope]].

Following the 1992 publication of [[Eric Drexler|Drexler's]] [[#Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing and Computation|''Nanosystems'']], in which some basic mechanosynthethic reaction pathways and sketches of possible tooltips, in 1997 [[Ralph Merkle|Merkle]] outlined the "hydrocarbon metabolism", a set of reaction pathways for DMS, which used nine different tooltips and several intermediate tooltips, some of which were not defined entirely, and used at least six different elements and one unspecified transition metal, and yet another unspecified "vitamin molecule" possibly requiring additional elements. Moreover, most reaction sequences were not completely specified and reaction closure was not 100%. It did not specify how the toolset may be constructed or what handle structures may have been required.

The Minimal Toolset paper proposes a 100% process closure which can be achieved using a minimal set of tools for mechanosynthesis, consisting of three primary tools: Hydrogen Abstraction ('''HAbst'''), Hydrogen Donation ('''HDon'''), and Dimer Placement ('''DimerP'''). These are assisted by six auxiliary tools, the discharged versions of Hydrogen Abstraction ('''AdamRad''') and Hydrogen Donation ('''GeRad'''), and intermediate structures: Methylene ('''Meth'''), Germylmethylene ('''GM'''), and Germylene ('''Germ'''). And finally, a Hydrogen Transfer tool that is a compound form of the HAbst and GeRad tools.