In order to produce tiny electronic memories or sensors in the future, it is essential to be able to arrange individual metal atoms on an insulating layer. Scientists at Bielefeld University's Faculty of Chemistry have now demonstrated that this is possible at room temperature: molecules of the metal-containing compound molybdenum acetate form an ordered structure on the insulator calcite without jumping to other positions or rotating. Their findings have been presented in the Nature Communications journal. The work was done in cooperation with researchers from the universities of Kaiserslautern, Lincoln (UK) and Mainz.