Molecular machines

In what has been a giant leap forward for fundamental chemistry, researchers have spent the past two decades creating tiny machines that can perform tasks in response to external stimuli. These machines can synthesize or transport small molecules, and some have been shown to come together in large numbers to accomplish macroscopic work such as making objects bend, rotate or contract. In recognition of their pioneering efforts in this field, Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Fraser Stoddart and Ben Feringa (left to right) have been jointly awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for the design and synthesis of molecular machines”.

The first real breakthrough came in 1983 when Jean-Pierre Sauvage, from the University of Strasbourg, devised a high-yielding metal-templated strategy to synthesize a catenane: an assembly of two molecular rings that are mechanically interlocked but can move freely with respect to one another. In 1991, Fraser Stoddart, now at Northwestern University, was responsible for the next major development: a rotaxane shuttle consisting of a macrocyclic ring that can move between two different 'stations' along the axle component on which it is threaded, trapped there by virtue of a bulky stopper at each end.