| Part of a series of articles on |
| Molecular nanotechnology |
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| Part of a series of articles on |
| Nanotechnology |
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| Impact and applications |
| Nanomaterials |
| Molecular self-assembly |
| Nanoelectronics |
| Nanometrology |
| Molecular nanotechnology |
Mechanosynthesis is a term for hypothetical chemical syntheses in which reaction outcomes are determined by the use of mechanical constraints to direct reactive molecules to specific molecular sites. There are presently no non-biological chemical syntheses which achieve this aim. Some atomic placement has been achieved with scanning tunnelling microscopes.