The newly synthesized cycloparaphenylene “nanohoop” molecule, the shortest segment of a carbon nanotube, could help grow much longer carbon nanotubes in a controlled way and in large batches, with each nanotube identical to the next.

This combination of precision and high yield will be needed if carbon nanotubes are to make the jump from the lab to the commercial sector. To replace silicon wafers in electronics, for example, they’ll need to be just as unblemished as silicon wafers, and just as easy to make in large numbers.