A Reversible Synthetic Rotary Molecular Motor

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 306; no. 5701; pp. 1532 - 1537
• Main Authors: Hernández, José V., Kay, Euan R., Leigh, David A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: WASHINGTON American Association for the Advancement of Science 26.11.2004; Amer Assoc Advancement Science; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Binding Sites; Biomolecules; Brownian motion; Catenanes; Catenanes - chemical synthesis; Catenanes - chemistry; Chemical Phenomena; Chemistry; Chemistry, Physical; Design and construction; Energy; Environmental effects; Environmental Influences; Exact sciences and technology; Heterocyclic compounds; Isomerism; Kinetics; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Miscellaneous; Models, Chemical; Molecular biology; Molecular Motor Proteins - chemical synthesis; Molecular Motor Proteins - chemistry; Molecular rotation; Molecular Structure; Molecules; Motion; Motors; Multidisciplinary Sciences; Nanotechnology; Organic chemistry; Physics; Preparations and properties; Rotation; Science & Technology; Science & Technology - Other Topics; Stimuli; Thermodynamics; United Kingdom; ACCELERATION; SPEED; TRANSPORT; ROTOR; MOTION; UNIDIRECTIONAL ROTATION; RATCHETS; BROWNIAN MOTORS; Brownian motion; Chemical transformation; Supramolecular structure; Energy conversion; Potential energy surfaces; Catenane; NMR spectrometry; Molecular motor; Chemical synthesis; Rotation
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1103949

The circumrotation of a submolecular fragment in either direction in a synthetic molecular structure is described. The movement of a small ring around a larger one occurs through positional displacements arising from biased Brownian motion that are kinetically captured and then directionally released. The sense of rotation is governed solely by the order in which a series of orthogonal chemical transformations is performed. The minimalist nature of the [2]catenane flashing ratchet design permits certain mechanistic comparisons with the Smoluchowski-Feynman ratchet and pawl. Even when no work has to be done against an opposing force and no net energy is used to power the motion, a finite conversion of energy is intrinsically required for the molecular motor to undergo directional rotation. Nondirectional rotation has no such requirement.