From Chemical Topology to Molecular Machines (Nobel Lecture)

Angewandte Chemie - International Edition

5 years ago

From Chemical Topology to Molecular Machines (Nobel Lecture)

Jean-Pierre Sauvage

To a large extent, the field of “molecular machines” started after several groups were able to prepare, reasonably easily, interlocking ring compounds (named catenanes for compounds consisting of interlocking rings and rotaxanes for rings threaded by molecular filaments or axes). Important families of molecular machines not belonging to the interlocking world were also designed, prepared, and studied but, for most of them, their elaboration was more recent than that of catenanes or rotaxanes. Since the creation of interlocking ring molecules is so important in relation to the molecular machinery area, we will start with this aspect of our work. The second part will naturally be devoted to the dynamic properties of such systems and to the compounds for which motions can be directed in a controlled manner from the outside, that is, molecular machines. We will restrict our discussion to a very limited number of examples which we consider as particularly representative of the field. Magic rings: The field of molecular machines has its origins in the synthesis of catenanes and rotaxanes. J.-P. Sauvage describes in his Nobel Lecture the beginnings of this research and the developments that led to the first molecular muscles and machines whose movement can be directed ′′from the outside′′ in a controlled manner.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1002/anie.201702992