Artificial molecular motors

Motor proteins are nature's solution for directing movement at the molecular level. The field of artificial molecular motors takes inspiration from these tiny but powerful machines. Although directional motion on the nanoscale performed by synthetic molecular machines is a relatively new develo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chemical Society reviews 2017-05, Vol.46 (9), p.2592-2621
Main Authors: Kassem, Salma, van Leeuwen, Thomas, Lubbe, Anouk S, Wilson, Miriam R, Feringa, Ben L, Leigh, David A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Inspiration
Molecular machines
Molecular motors
Motors
Movement
Nanostructure
Proteins
Switches
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Summary:Motor proteins are nature's solution for directing movement at the molecular level. The field of artificial molecular motors takes inspiration from these tiny but powerful machines. Although directional motion on the nanoscale performed by synthetic molecular machines is a relatively new development, significant advances have been made. In this review an overview is given of the principal designs of artificial molecular motors and their modes of operation. Although synthetic molecular motors have also found widespread application as (multistate) switches, we focus on the control of directional movement, both at the molecular scale and at larger magnitudes. We identify some key challenges remaining in the field. Artificial molecular motors take inspiration from motor proteins, nature's solution for achieving directional molecular level motion. An overview is given of the principal designs of artificial molecular motors and their modes of operation. We identify some key challenges remaining in the field.
ISSN:0306-0012
1460-4744
DOI:10.1039/c7cs00245a