STOCKHOLM/LONDONSTOCKHOLM/LONDON (Reuters) - A trio of European scientists has won the 2016 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for developing molecular machines that could one day be injected to fight cancer or used to make new types of materials and energy storage devices.

Frenchman Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Scotland's J. Fraser Stoddart and Dutchman Bernard Feringa developed molecules that produce mechanical motion in response to a stimulus, allowing them to perform specific tasks, the Nobel Academy said on Wednesday in awarding the 8 million Swedish crown ($931,000) prize.

Such molecular machines can be developed in smart medicines that seek out disease or damage and deliver drugs to fight or fix it, and in smart materials that can adapt in response to external triggers such as changes in light or temperature.

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"There are endless opportunities," Feringa, a professor of organic chemistry at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, told reporters when asked to predict what his work could eventually be used for.

"Think of a tiny micro-robot that a doctor in the future will inject into your blood and that goes to search for a cancer cell or goes to deliver a drug, for instance."

Goran Hansson, a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences which conferred the award, said this year's recognition was "all about the world's tiniest machines".

"The sky's the limit," he said when asked where the discovery could lead.

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The Nobel committee's statement said the science of molecular machinery was now "at the same stage as the electric motor was in the 1830s" - when scientists displayed various spinning cranks and wheels, unaware that they would lead to electric trains, washing machines, fans and food processors.

"We can still only guess at the thrilling developments ahead of us," it said. "However, we do have a definite answer to (the) initial question - how small can you make machinery?: At least 1,000 times thinner than a strand of hair."

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Sauvage is professor emeritus at the University of Strasbourg and director of research emeritus at France's National Center for Scientific Research.

J. Fraser Stoddart, one of the winners of 2016 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, raises his glass for a toast at Northwestern University in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, U.S., October 5, 2016. Reuters/Jim Young French scientist Jean-Pierre Sauvage, professor emeritus at the University of Strasbourg and director of research emeritus at France's National Center for Scientific Research, poses in a laboratory at the University of Strasbourg, France, October 5, 2016, after the announcement that he won the Chemistry Nobel Prize with J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard Feringa on Wednesday for work on molecular machines that may lead to developments like new materials, sensors and energy storage systems. Reuters/Vincent Kessler Bernard Feringa, winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2016, speaks at a news conference at the University of Groningen in Groningen, the Netherlands October 5, 2016. Reuters/Stringer French scientist Jean-Pierre Sauvage, professor emeritus at the University of Strasbourg and director of research emeritus at France's National Center for Scientific Research, poses in a laboratory at the University of Strasbourg, France, October 5, 2016, after the announcement that he won the Chemistry Nobel Prize with J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard Feringa on Wednesday for work on molecular machines that may lead to developments like new materials, sensors and energy storage systems. Reuters/Vincent Kessler J. Fraser Stoddart, one of the winners of 2016 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, poses for a portrait in the lab at Northwestern University in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, U.S., October 5, 2016. Reuters/Jim Young Bernard Feringa, winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2016 (C), speaks at a news conference flanked by professor Sibrand Poppema (L) and professor Elmer Sterken at the University of Groningen in Groningen, the Netherlands October 5, 2016. Reuters/Stringer Bernard Feringa, one of the winners of the 2016 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, is seen on this handout picture provided by the University of Groningen on October 5, 2016. University of Groningen/Handout via Reuters Pictures of the winners of the 2016 Nobel Chemistry Prize: Jean-Pierre Sauvage, J Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L Feringa are displayed on a screen during a news conference by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden October 5, 2016. TT News Agency/Henrik Montgomery/via Reuters French scientist Jean-Pierre Sauvage (L), professor emeritus at the University of Strasbourg and director of research emeritus at France's National Center for Scientific Research, speaks next to Jean-Marie Lehn, 1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner, during a news conference at the University of Strasbourg, France, October 5, 2016, after the announcement that he won the Chemistry Nobel Prize with J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard Feringa on Wednesday for work on molecular machines that may lead to developments like new materials, sensors and energy storage systems. Reuters/Vincent Kessler French scientist Jean-Pierre Sauvage, professor emeritus at the University of Strasbourg and director of research emeritus at France's National Center for Scientific Research, speaks on the phone at the University of Strasbourg, France, October 5, 2016, after the announcement that he won the Chemistry Nobel Prize with J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard Feringa on Wednesday for work on molecular machines that may lead to developments like new materials, sensors and energy storage systems. Reuters/Vincent Kessler Pictures of the winners of the 2016 Nobel Chemistry Prize: Jean-Pierre Sauvage, J Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L Feringa are displayed on a screen during a news conference by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden October 5, 2016. TT News Agency/Henrik Montgomery/via Reuters The Royal Academy of Sciences members present 2016 Nobel Chemistry Prize during a news conference by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden October 5, 2016. The winners of the 2016 Nobel Chemistry Prize (L-R) Jean-Pierre Sauvage, J Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L Feringa are displayed on a screen. TT News Agency/Henrik Montgomery/via Reuters

Stoddart, born in Edinburgh and now professor of chemistry at Northwestern University in the United States, said the prize was "quite unexpected".

"When it happens, it takes your breath away," he said in a phone interview as he watched the ceremony live from his home outside Chicago.

Chemistry is the third of this year's Nobels. Japan's Yoshinori Ohsumi won the medicine award on Monday, while three British-born scientists, including two Scots, took the physics prize on Tuesday.

The prizes are named after dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel and have been awarded since 1901 for achievements in science, literature and peace, in accordance with his will.

($1 = 8.5947 Swedish crowns)

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