Towards the engineering of a photon-only two-stroke rotary molecular motor

The rational engineering of photoresponsive materials, e.g., light-driven molecular motors, is a challenging task. Here, we use structure-related design rules to prepare a prototype molecular rotary motor capable of completing an entire revolution using, exclusively, the sequential absorption of two...

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Veröffentlicht in:Nature communications 2022-10, Vol.13 (1), p.6433-6433, Article 6433
Hauptverfasser: Filatov(Gulak), Michael, Paolino, Marco, Pierron, Robin, Cappelli, Andrea, Giorgi, Gianluca, Léonard, Jérémie, Huix-Rotllant, Miquel, Ferré, Nicolas, Yang, Xuchun, Kaliakin, Danil, Blanco-González, Alejandro, Olivucci, Massimo
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:The rational engineering of photoresponsive materials, e.g., light-driven molecular motors, is a challenging task. Here, we use structure-related design rules to prepare a prototype molecular rotary motor capable of completing an entire revolution using, exclusively, the sequential absorption of two photons; i.e., a photon-only two-stroke motor. The mechanism of rotation is then characterised using a combination of non-adiabatic dynamics simulations and transient absorption spectroscopy measurements. The results show that the rotor moiety rotates axially relative to the stator and produces, within a few picoseconds at ambient T, an intermediate with the same helicity as the starting structure. We discuss how such properties, that include a 0.25 quantum efficiency, can help overcome the operational limitations of the classical overcrowded alkene designs. Improving the efficiency of light-driven molecular rotary motors is a challenging task. Here, the authors combine theoretical modeling, synthesis and spectroscopy to prepare a prototype molecular motor capable of avoiding inefficient thermally activated motion; thus offering prospects to implement a 2-stroke photon-only molecular motor.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-022-33695-x