Molecular machine

A molecular machine, or nanomachine,[1]

refers to any discrete number of molecular
components that produce quasi-
mechanical movements (output) in
response to specific stimuli (input).[2] The
expression is often more generally applied
to molecules that simply mimic functions
that occur at the macroscopic level. The
term is also common in nanotechnology
where a number of highly complex
molecular machines have been proposed
that are aimed at the goal of constructing
a molecular assembler.

In 1959, physicist Richard Feynman

popularized the idea of nanomachines in
his talk entitled "There's Plenty of Room at
the Bottom" at the California Institute of
Technology.[3] Since then, chemists and
physicists alike have attempted, with
varying degrees of success, to miniaturize
machines found in the macroscopic world.
Molecular machines research is currently
at the forefront with the 2016 Nobel Prize
in Chemistry being awarded to Jean-Pierre
Sauvage, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart and
Bernard L. Feringa for the design and
synthesis of molecular machines.[4][5]

Types of molecular machines

Molecular machines can be divided into
two broad categories; synthetic and
biological. In general, synthetic molecular
machines refer to molecules that are
artificially designed and synthesized
whereas biological molecular machines
can commonly be found in nature[6].

Synthetic

A wide variety of rather simple molecular

machines have been synthesized by
chemists. They can consist of a single
molecule; however, they are often
constructed for mechanically-interlocked
molecular architectures, such as
rotaxanes and catenanes. Carbon
nanotube nanomotors have also been
produced.[7]

Molecular motors are molecules that are

capable of unidirectional rotation
motion powered by external energy
input. A number of molecular machines
have been synthesized powered by light
or reaction with other
molecules[8][9][10][11].
A molecular propeller is a molecule that
can propel fluids when rotated, due to its
special shape that is designed in
analogy to macroscopic propellers. It
has several molecular-scale blades
attached at a certain pitch angle around
the circumference of a nanoscale shaft.
Also see molecular gyroscope.
A molecular switch is a molecule that
can be reversibly shifted between two or
more stable states.[12] The molecules
may be shifted between the states in
response to changes in pH, light,
temperature, an electric current,
microenvironment, or the presence of a
ligand.
A molecular shuttle is a molecule
capable of shuttling molecules or ions
from one location to another. A common
molecular shuttle consists of a rotaxane
where the macrocycle can move
between two sites or stations along the
dumbbell backbone[13].
A molecular balance[14][15] is a molecule
that can interconvert between two and
more conformational or configurational
states in response to the dynamic of
multiple intra- and intermolecular driving
forces, such as hydrogen bonding,
solvophobic/hydrophobic effects,[16] π
interactions,[17] and steric and
dispersion interactions.[18]
Molecular tweezers are host molecules
capable of holding items between their
two arms. The open cavity of the
molecular tweezers binds items using
non-covalent bonding including
hydrogen bonding, metal coordination,
hydrophobic forces, van der Waals
forces, π interactions, or electrostatic
effects. Examples of molecular
tweezers have been reported that are
constructed from DNA and are
considered DNA machines.
A molecular sensor is a molecule that
interacts with an analyte to produce a
detectable change.[19] Molecular
sensors combine molecular recognition
with some form of reporter, so the
presence of the item can be observed.
A molecular logic gate is a molecule
that performs a logical operation on one
or more logic inputs and produces a
single logic output. Unlike a molecular
sensor, the molecular logic gate will only
output when a particular combination of
inputs are present.
A molecular hinge is a molecule that can
be selectively switched from one
configuration to another in a reversible
fashion.[12] Such configurations must
have distinguishable geometries, for
instance, Cis or Trans isomers[20] of a V-
 shape[21] molecule. Azo compounds
perform Cis–trans isomerism upon
receiving UV-Vis light.[12]

Bird-looking analogy of a molecular hinge[22]

Biological

Some biological molecular machines

 g

The most complex molecular machines

are proteins found within cells. These
include motor proteins, such as myosin,
which is responsible for muscle
contraction, kinesin, which moves cargo
inside cells away from the nucleus along
microtubules, dynein, which produces the
axonemal beating of motile cilia and
flagella, and transmembrane ATPases
such like ATP Synthase[23]. These proteins
and their nanoscale dynamics are far more
complex than any molecular machines
that have yet been artificially constructed.
Probably the most significant biological
machine known is the ribosome. Other
important examples include motile cilia. A
high-level-abstraction summary is that, "
[i]n effect, the [motile cilium] is a
nanomachine composed of perhaps over
600 proteins in molecular complexes,
many of which also function independently
as nanomachines."[1] Flexible linker
domains allow the connecting protein
domains to recruit their binding partners
and induce long-range allostery via protein
domain dynamics.[24]

This protein flexibility allows the

construction of biological machines. The
first useful applications of these biological
machines might be in nanomedicine. For
example,[25] they could be used to identify
and destroy cancer cells.[26][27] Molecular
nanotechnology is a speculative subfield
of nanotechnology regarding the
possibility of engineering molecular
assemblers, biological machines which
could re-order matter at a molecular or
atomic scale. Nanomedicine would make
use of these nanorobots, introduced into
the body, to repair or detect damages and
infections. Molecular nanotechnology is
highly theoretical, seeking to anticipate
what inventions nanotechnology might
yield and to propose an agenda for future
inquiry. The proposed elements of
molecular nanotechnology, such as
molecular assemblers and nanorobots are
far beyond current capabilities.[28][29]

Research
The construction of more complex
molecular machines is an active area of
theoretical and experimental research. A
number of molecules, such as molecular
propellers, have been designed, although
experimental studies of these molecules
are inhibited by the lack of methods to
construct these molecules. In this context,
theoretical modeling can be extremely
useful to understand the self-
assembly/disassembly processes of
rotaxanes, important for the construction
of light-powered molecular machines.[30]
This molecular-level knowledge may foster
the realization of ever more complex,
versatile, and effective molecular
machines for the areas of nanotechnology,
including molecular assemblers.

Although currently not feasible, some

potential applications of molecular
machines are transport at the molecular
level, manipulation of nanostructures and
chemical systems, high density solid-state
informational processing and molecular
prosthetics[31]. Many fundamental
challenges need to be overcome before
molecular machines can be used
practically such as autonomous operation,
complexity of machines, stability in the
synthesis of the machines and the working
conditions[32].

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