A German tribute to Moore

Ask most people about the Bobby Moore procedure, and they'll probably think you're talking about the exquisite timing of a tackle or the lifting of the World Cup.

But to chemists, the term could soon be synonymous with transferring metal oxide spheres into the gas phase.

German chemists at the University of Bielefeld have developed the process using molybdenum oxide giant spheres, similar to fullerenes but containing some 700 atoms. In a recent article in the Royal Society of Chemistry's journal, chemcomm, they named after the late England and West Ham captain 'in tribute to a fine footballer and an honourable rival.'

'What we have done here is to use a laser beam to first select the molecules from a pack and then to lift and send them flying,' explains team leader Achim Müller.

'The movement of the balls is very powerful and accurate - rather like the shots made by penalty takers in the German team,' he added, spoiling the image for his English colleagues.

The technique could be used to deposit groups of the molecules onto surfaces. This could be useful in the manufacture of components for quantum computers.