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Nanotechnology

In control of molecular motion

Nature leads the way when it comes to motors on a molecular scale. But chemists are in hot pursuit, designing controllable structures that can mimic muscles or rotary motors.

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Figure 1: Stretching and contracting in an artificial molecular muscle designed by Sauvage and co-workers3.
Figure 2: Control of rotation in a disc-like structure.

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Correspondence to Ben L. Feringa.

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Feringa, B. In control of molecular motion. Nature 408, 151–153 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35041665

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