Molecular machines and motors articles within Nature

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    An electrically driven motor on the molecular scale based on [3]catenane is described, in which two cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) rings operate by means of redox reactions, demonstrating highly unidirectional movement around a circular loop.

    • Long Zhang
    • , Yunyan Qiu
    •  & J. Fraser Stoddart

  • Article |

    A molecular ratchet, in which a crown ether is pumped from solution onto an encoded molecular strand by a pulse of chemical fuel, opens the way for the reading of information along molecular tapes.

    • Yansong Ren
    • , Romain Jamagne
    •  & David A. Leigh

  • Article |

    The molecular chemical ‘fuelling’ of the catalysis-driven motor 1-phenylpyrrole 2,2′-dicarboxylic acid, which operates by a Brownian information ratchet mechanism, facilitates dynamics that are otherwise kinetically inaccessible.

    • Stefan Borsley
    • , Elisabeth Kreidt
    •  & Benjamin M. W. Roberts

  • Article |

    A molecular-scale pump whose operation is driven by a catalytic process when in the presence of chemical fuel is autonomous, within an operating window, as long as the fuel lasts.

    • Shuntaro Amano
    • , Stephen D. P. Fielden
    •  & David A. Leigh

  • Letter |

    Rotary molecular machines, activated by ultraviolet light, are able to perturb and drill into cell membranes in a controllable manner, and more efficiently than those exhibiting flip-flopping or random motion.

    • Víctor García-López
    • , Fang Chen
    •  & James M. Tour

  • Letter |

    A system is described in which a small macrocycle is continuously transported directionally around a cyclic molecular track when powered by irreversible reactions of a chemical fuel; such autonomous chemically fuelled molecular motors should find application as engines in molecular nanotechnology.

    • Miriam R. Wilson
    • , Jordi Solà
    •  & David A. Leigh

  • Letter |

    The ratio of in-plane stiffness to out-of-plane bending stiffness of graphene is shown to be similar to that of a piece of paper, which allows ideas from kirigami (a variation of origami that allows cutting) to be applied to micrometre-scale graphene sheets to build mechanically stretchable yet robust electrodes, springs and hinges.

    • Melina K. Blees
    • , Arthur W. Barnard
    •  & Paul L. McEuen

  • News & Views |

    Molecular machines containing related protein subunits are common in cells. Reconstruction of ancient proteins suggests that this type of complexity can evolve in the absence of any initial selective advantage. See Letter p.360

    • W. Ford Doolittle

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