[0xDEFC0DE]

>In other words, each molecule is made individually. This is not the way that chemists typically work, and will not result in quantities of material that can be seen.

Is there not merit in doing it via this 'hard way' first before optimizing stuff and finding a production pathway? (IANAchemist)

[apo]

It's not really a question of hard way vs easy way. It's more like the difference between having a balloon filled with helium and making a single helium atom in a collider. One you can buy at the grocery store, the other requires a team of trained scientists and a facility full of equipment.

A milllimole (10^20 moleculess) is considered small scale by many chemists. Working with a single molecule as described in the artice is just short of science fiction, and hardly any chemists have ever done it. It requires one of the most expensive instruments in the world.

[azernik]

IANAchemist either, but I've heard of this being done for prototyping in the semiconductor industry; manually creating single devices to test their electrical/quantum properties while the production teams are trying to figure out how to manufacture the things industrially.