An electric molecular motor

Long Zhang; Yunyan Qiu; Wei-Guang Liu; Hongliang Chen; Dengke Shen; Bo Song; Kang Cai; Huang Wu; Yang Jiao; Yuanning Feng; James S W Seale; Cristian Pezzato; Jia Tian; Yu Tan; Xiao-Yang Chen; Qing-Hui Guo; Charlotte L Stern; Douglas Philp; R Dean Astumian; William A Goddard 3rd; J Fraser Stoddart

doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05421-6

An electric molecular motor

Nature. 2023 Jan;613(7943):280-286. doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05421-6. Epub 2023 Jan 11.

Authors

Long Zhang¹, Yunyan Qiu², Wei-Guang Liu³, Hongliang Chen^{2

4

5}, Dengke Shen^{2

6}, Bo Song², Kang Cai^{2

7}, Huang Wu², Yang Jiao², Yuanning Feng², James S W Seale², Cristian Pezzato^{2

8

9}, Jia Tian¹⁰, Yu Tan^{2

11}, Xiao-Yang Chen², Qing-Hui Guo^{2

4

5}, Charlotte L Stern², Douglas Philp^{2

12}, R Dean Astumian¹³, William A Goddard 3rd¹⁴, J Fraser Stoddart^{15

16

17

18}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. long.zhang@northwestern.edu.
² Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
³ Materials and Process Simulation Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
⁴ Stoddart Institute of Molecular Science, Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
⁵ ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Hangzhou, China.
⁶ Institutes of Physical Science and Information Technology, Anhui University, Hefei, China.
⁷ Department of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.
⁸ Institut des Sciences et Ingénierie Chimiques, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁹ Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
¹⁰ Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Self-Assembly Chemistry for Organic Functional Molecules, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
¹¹ School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, China.
¹² School of Chemistry, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, UK.
¹³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA. astumian@maine.edu.
¹⁴ Materials and Process Simulation Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA. wag@caltech.edu.
¹⁵ Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. stoddart@northwestern.edu.
¹⁶ Stoddart Institute of Molecular Science, Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. stoddart@northwestern.edu.
¹⁷ ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Hangzhou, China. stoddart@northwestern.edu.
¹⁸ School of Chemistry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. stoddart@northwestern.edu.

Abstract

Macroscopic electric motors continue to have a large impact on almost every aspect of modern society. Consequently, the effort towards developing molecular motors^1-3 that can be driven by electricity could not be more timely. Here we describe an electric molecular motor based on a [3]catenane^4,5, in which two cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene)⁶ (CBPQT⁴⁺) rings are powered by electricity in solution to circumrotate unidirectionally around a 50-membered loop. The constitution of the loop ensures that both rings undergo highly (85%) unidirectional movement under the guidance of a flashing energy ratchet^7,8, whereas the interactions between the two rings give rise to a two-dimensional potential energy surface (PES) similar to that shown by F_OF₁ ATP synthase⁹. The unidirectionality is powered by an oscillating¹⁰ voltage^11,12 or external modulation of the redox potential¹³. Initially, we focused our attention on the homologous [2]catenane, only to find that the kinetic asymmetry was insufficient to support unidirectional movement of the sole ring. Accordingly, we incorporated a second CBPQT⁴⁺ ring to provide further symmetry breaking by interactions between the two mobile rings. This demonstration of electrically driven continual circumrotatory motion of two rings around a loop in a [3]catenane is free from the production of waste products and represents an important step towards surface-bound¹⁴ electric molecular motors.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Grants and funding

CBET-2005250/National Science Foundation