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Photochemistry

Lighting up nanomachines

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.

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Figure 1: Light-driven molecular shuttle.

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Kay, E., Leigh, D. Lighting up nanomachines. Nature 440, 286–287 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/440286b

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