The IBM team's quantum computer was a straw-thin vial filled with a rust-colored liquid packed with millions of copies of a single organic molecule.

FORBES: Atoms Offer Giant Leap In Computing Power

Last year Hewlett-Packard, along with a team of scientists from UCLA, proved the ability to make a switch that could be turned off and on, like a transistor, out of a single organic molecule called a catenane.

FORBES: The Science of Small

Last year Hewlett-Packard, along with a team of scientists from UCLA, proved that it is possible to make a switch that can be turned off and on, like a transistor, out of a single organic molecule called a catenane.

FORBES: The science of small

Nowadays a typical client hires one of Kalexsyn's 32 chemists on a weekly or monthly basis to produce a vial of organic compound--assuming the molecule can be built.

FORBES: Careers

The technology, based around an "organic semiconductor" called pentacene (a hydrocarbon molecule) and a comparative instrument known as a Wheatstone bridge, can be embedded in fabrics such as undershirts and coupled with wireless transmitters.

ENGADGET: "Organic semiconductors" help researchers monitor your heart