This field has only begun to receive significant attention in the last two decades, and more work is constantly being published as nanoreactors become more sophisticated and begin to show promise for industrial applications.
Researchers in the Netherlands have succeeded in building nanoreactors that can perform one-pot multistep reactions - the next step towards artificial cell-like devices in addition for applications involving the screening and diagnosis of a disease or illness.
[2] A biochemical nanoreactor is created simply by unwrapping a biological virus through scientific methods, eliminating its harmful contents, and re-assembling its protein coat around a single molecule of enzyme.
[5] Nanoreactors can also be built by controlling the positioning of two different enzymes in the central water reservoir or the plastic membrane of synthetic nanoscopic bubbles.
[6] Nanoreactors can also be used to emulsify water, create hydrofuels (which essentially blends 15% water into the refined diesel product), play a helpful role in the chemical industry by allowing multiple streams of raw materials to exists in a single nanoreactor, manufacture personal care products (i.e., lotions, pharmaceutical creams, shampoos, conditioners, shower gels, deodorants), and improve the food and beverage industries (by processing sauces, purées, cooking bases for soup, emulsifying non-alcoholic beverages, and salad dressings).
[7] Personal care goods can be enhanced by companies feeding multiple phases of material, using a mixing device with water, and creating instant emulsions.
Hydrofuel can be used to move heavy duty transports, trains, earth-moving equipment (including bulldozers), in addition to providing fuel to most boats and ships.
In an example of how confinement to such small spaces influences chemistry, the authors theorize that the changes to the Raman spectra can be attributed to van der Waals interactions of the sulfur with the walls of the nanotubes.
These effects are highly sensitive to the size of the confinement chamber, as the van der Waals interactions were not significant for larger diameter single-walled nanotubes.