Intrinsically unidirectional stepwise chemically fueled rotary molecular motors
- 1Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chiral Molecule and Drug Discovery, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University
Abstract
Harnessing and rectifying random Brownian motion and achieving precise directional control at the molecular level remain major obstacles, making the development of chemically fueled molecular motors that operate with intrinsic directional control a significant challenge. Here, we show that a series of homochiral biaryl molecular motors with symmetrical subunits and three distinct stereochemical elements, in which stereoselective cyclization and ring-opening generate kinetically favored products that promote unidirectional rotation. Driven by chemical fuel (EDC·HCl and water), these motors undergo stepwise 360° rotation around a single C–C bond, with stereocenter and electronic modulation precisely controlling the flipping energy barrier. Notably, Motor-3 performs the sequence in an one-pot manner, sequentially executing ester cyclization, helix inversion, and ring-opening to achieve high unidirectionality over the full rotary cycle. This design, combining intrinsic control over rotation direction with simple chemical fueling for stepwise motion, illustrates the potential for future multicomponent molecular machines to perform mechanical functions.
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BibTeX
@article{zhang2026intrinsically,
title = {{Intrinsically unidirectional stepwise chemically fueled rotary molecular motors}},
author = {Yu Zhang and Tianhao Jia and Zheng Dong and Yuhang Yang and Xiaoqiang Ma and Depeng Zhao},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1038/s41598-026-65399-3},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-65399-3},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Intrinsically unidirectional stepwise chemically fueled rotary molecular motors
AU - Yu Zhang
AU - Tianhao Jia
AU - Zheng Dong
AU - Yuhang Yang
AU - Xiaoqiang Ma
AU - Depeng Zhao
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/01
JO - Scientific Reports
DO - 10.1038/s41598-026-65399-3
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-65399-3
AB - Harnessing and rectifying random Brownian motion and achieving precise directional control at the molecular level remain major obstacles, making the development of chemically fueled molecular motors that operate with intrinsic directional control a significant challenge. Here, we show that a series of homochiral biaryl molecular motors with symmetrical subunits and three distinct stereochemical elements, in which stereoselective cyclization and ring-opening generate kinetically favored products that promote unidirectional rotation. Driven by chemical fuel (EDC·HCl and water), these motors undergo stepwise 360° rotation around a single C–C bond, with stereocenter and electronic modulation precisely controlling the flipping energy barrier. Notably, Motor-3 performs the sequence in an one-pot manner, sequentially executing ester cyclization, helix inversion, and ring-opening to achieve high unidirectionality over the full rotary cycle. This design, combining intrinsic control over rotation direction with simple chemical fueling for stepwise motion, illustrates the potential for future multicomponent molecular machines to perform mechanical functions.
SN - 2045-2322
ER -