Reversing the direction in a light-driven rotary molecular motor

Nopporn Ruangsupapichat, Michael M. Pollard, Syuzanna R. Harutyunyan, Ben L. Feringa*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

168 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Biological rotary motors can alter their mechanical function by changing the direction of rotary motion. Achieving a similar reversal of direction of rotation in artificial molecular motors presents a fundamental stereochemical challenge: how to change from clockwise to anticlockwise motion without compromising the autonomous unidirectional rotary behaviour of the system. A new molecular motor with multilevel control of rotary motion is reported here, in which the direction of light-powered rotation can be reversed by base-catalysed epimerization. The key steps are deprotonation and reprotonation of the photochemically generated less-stable isomers during the 360° unidirectional rotary cycle, with complete inversion of the configuration at the stereogenic centre. The ability to change directionality is an essential step towards mechanical molecular systems with adaptive functional behaviour.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)53-60
Number of pages8
JournalNature Chemistry
Volume3
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2011

Keywords

  • UNIDIRECTIONAL ROTATION
  • HELICAL POLYMER
  • MACHINES
  • ACCELERATION
  • PROTEINS
  • SWITCHES
  • DESIGN
  • MOTION
  • WORK

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Reversing the direction in a light-driven rotary molecular motor'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this