Inspired by biology, chemists have created a cornucopia of molecular parts that act as switches, motors and ratchets. Now it is time to do something useful with them.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Anelli, P. L., Spencer, N. & Stoddart, J. F. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 113, 5131–5133 (1991).
Bissell, R. A., Córdova, E., Kaifer, A. E. & Stoddart, J. F. Nature 369, 133–137 (1994).
Green, J. E. et al. Nature 445, 414–417 (2007).
Zhu, K., O'Keefe, C. A., Vukotic, V. N., Schurko, R. W. & Loeb, S. J. Nature Chem. 7, 514–519 (2015).
McGonigal, P. R. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1514485112 (2015).
Blanco, V., Carlone, A., Hänni, K. D., Leigh, D. A. & Lewandowski, B. Angew. Chem. Int. Edn 51, 5166–5169 (2012).
Beswick, J. et al. Chem. Sci. 6, 140 (2015).
Koumura, N., Zijlstra, R. W. J., van Delden, R. A., Harada, N. & Feringa, B. L. Nature 401, 152–155 (1999).
Kudernac, T. et al. Nature 479, 208–211 (2011).
Eelkema, R. et al. Nature 440, 163 (2006).
Borowiak, M. et al. Cell 162, 403–411 (2015).
Tochitsky, I. et al. Neuron 81, 800–813 (2014).
Gu, H., Chao, J., Xiao, S.-J. & Seeman, N. C. Nature 465, 202–205 (2010).
Astumian, R. D. Nature Nanotechnol. 7, 684–688 (2012).
Krishnan, R. et al. Nature Struct. Mol. Biol. 20, 1450–1459 (2013).
Gao, W. et al. ACS Nano 9, 117–123 (2015).
Cheng, C. et al. Nature Nanotechnol. 10, 547–553 (2015).
Lewandowski, B. et al. Science 339, 189–193 (2013).
Noda, Y., Hayashi, Y. & Ito, K. J. Appl. Polymer Sci. 131, 40509 (2014).
Related links
Related links
Related links in Nature Research
Materials science: The hole story 2015-Apr-08
Molecular robot mimics life's protein-builder 2013-Jan-10
Elusive protein factory mapped at last 2010-Nov-25
Nanotech comes alive 2008-Oct-07
High-density memory: A switch in time 2007-Jan-24
Related external links
Gordon Research Conference on Artificial Molecular Switches and Motors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Peplow, M. The tiniest Lego: a tale of nanoscale motors, rotors, switches and pumps. Nature 525, 18–21 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/525018a
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/525018a
This article is cited by
-
Brownian Photomotors Based on Organic Compounds: A Review
Theoretical and Experimental Chemistry (2022)
-
Simple molecules self-assemble into the links of a nanoscale chain
Nature (2020)
-
Life-like motion driven by artificial molecular machines
Nature Reviews Chemistry (2019)
-
In-situ liquid-cell TEM study of radial flow-guided motion of octahedral Au nanoparticles and nanoparticle clusters
Nano Research (2018)
-
Antibody-powered nucleic acid release using a DNA-based nanomachine
Nature Communications (2017)