Polyyne rods

Polyyne rods are linear chains of carbon with alternating single and triple bonds. Like a lot of ethyne molecules linked together in series.
This makes for the physically thinnest possible rod for pushing and pulling.

Polyyne rods might be usable for:

• Rod logic – Related: reversible computing
• Sorting rotors like e.g. in the Acetylene sorting pump
• ... ?

Possible downsides:

• Quite a bit higher susceptibility to radiation damage than bulk gemstone-like compounds
• Higher difficulty in manufacturing (unclear, might not be the case)

There's a bit of etyne rod manipulation in the tooltip chemistry for the mechanosynthesis of diamond
as outlined in the tooltip cycle paper.

Related

• Semi gemstone-like structure
• Ethyne

These are proposed to serve a function in

• Acetylene sorting pumps
• Piezochemical mechanosynthesis of diamond. See: Tooltip cycle paper
• mechanical rod logic

External links

Wikipedia

• Polyyne
• Cumulene <= double bonds instead of triple bonds

Papers

• 2024 — On-surface synthesis and characterization of polyynic carbon chains
• Preprint 2023 — On-surface synthesis of a polyynic carbon chain with ~40 alkyne units