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Nature 440, 286-287 (16 March 2006) | doi:10.1038/440286b; Published online 15 March 2006

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Photochemistry: Lighting up nanomachines

Euan R. Kay1 & David A. Leigh1

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A cleverly engineered molecule uses light to generate a charge-separated state and so cause one of its components to move. It's the latest study of a molecular machine that exploits nature's most plentiful energy source.

Nature runs the nanomachinery that makes life possible using the last word in clean, free and readily available power sources — sunlight. In photosynthetic bacteria and green plants, photon absorption by chlorophyll generates a charge-separated state, from which the electron is quickly passed down a cascade of electron carriers, ultimately generating energy in a convenient chemical form.

  1. Euan R. Kay and David A. Leigh are in the School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JJ, UK.
    Email: david.leigh@ed.ac.uk

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