The widespread use of molecular machines in biology has long suggested that great rewards could come from bridging the gap between synthetic molecular systems and the machines of the macroscopic world. In the last two decades, it has proved possible to design synthetic molecular systems with architectures where triggered large amplitude positional changes of submolecular components occur. Perhaps the best way to appreciate the technological potential of controlled molecular-level motion is to recognize that nanomotors and molecular-level machines lie at the heart of every significant biological process. Over billions of years of evolution, nature has not repeatedly chosen this solution for performing complex tasks without good reason. When mankind learns how to build artificial structures that can control and exploit molecular level motion and interface their effects directly with other molecular-level substructures and the outside world, it will potentially impact on every aspect of functional molecule and materials design. An improved understanding of physics and biology will surely follow.

The first steps on the long path to the invention of artificial molecular machines were arguably taken in 1827 when the Scottish botanist Robert Brown observed the haphazard motion of tiny particles under his microscope.1,2 The explanation for Brownian motion, that it is caused by bombardment of the particles by molecules as a consequence of the kinetic theory of matter, was later provided by Einstein, followed by experimental verification by Perrin.3,4 The random thermal motion of molecules and its implications for the laws of thermodynamics in turn inspired Gedankenexperiments (“thought experiments”) that explored the interplay (and apparent paradoxes) of Brownian motion and the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Richard Feynman’s famous 1959 lecture “There’s plenty of room at the bottom” outlined some of the promise that manmade molecular machines might hold.5,6 However, Feynman’s talk came at a time before chemists had the necessary synthetic and analytical tools to make molecular machines. While interest among synthetic chemists began to grow in the 1970s and 1980s, progress accelerated in the 1990s, particularly with the invention of methods to make mechanically interlocked molecular systems (catenanes and rotaxanes) and control and switch the relative positions of their components.7−24

Here, we review triggered large-amplitude motions in molecular structures and the changes in properties these can produce. We concentrate on conformational and configurational changes in wholly covalently bonded molecules and on catenanes and rotaxanes in which switching is brought about by various stimuli (light, electrochemistry, pH, heat, solvent polarity, cation or anion binding, allosteric effects, temperature, reversible covalent bond formation, etc.). Finally, we discuss the latest generations of sophisticated synthetic molecular machine systems in which the controlled motion of subcomponents is used to perform complex tasks, paving the way to applications and the realization of a new era of “molecular nanotechnology”.

1.1. The Language Used To Describe Molecular Machines
Terminology needs to be properly and appropriately defined and these meanings used consistently to effectively convey scientific concepts. Nowhere is the need for accurate scientific language more apparent than in the field of molecular machines. Much of the terminology used to describe molecular-level machines has its origins in observations made by biologists and physicists, and their findings and descriptions have often been misinterpreted and misunderstood by chemists. In 2007 we formalized definitions of some common terms used in the field (e.g., “machine”, “switch”, “motor”, “ratchet”, etc.) so that chemists could use them in a manner consistent with the meanings understood by biologists and physicists who study molecular-level machines.14

The word “machine” implies a mechanical movement that accomplishes a useful task. This Review concentrates on systems where a stimulus triggers the controlled, relatively large amplitude (or directional) motion of one molecular or submolecular component relative to another that can potentially result in a net task being performed. Molecular machines can be further categorized into various classes such as “motors” and “switches” whose behavior differs significantly.14 For example, in a rotaxane-based “switch”, the change in position of a macrocycle on the thread of the rotaxane influences the system only as a function of state. Returning the components of a molecular switch to their original position undoes any work done, and so a switch cannot be used repetitively and progressively to do work. A “motor”, on the other hand, influences a system as a function of trajectory, meaning that when the components of a molecular motor return to their original positions, for example, after a 360° directional rotation, any work that has been done is not undone unless the motor is subsequently rotated by 360° in the reverse direction. This difference in behavior is significant; no “switch-based” molecular machine can be used to progressively perform work in the way that biological motors can, such as those from the kinesin, myosin, and dynein superfamilies, unless the switch is part of a larger ratchet mechanism.14

Artificial Molecular Machines

π-Bonding and the Lone Pair Effect in Multiple Bonds between Heavier Main Group Elements

Expanded Porphyrins and Their Heterologs.

Kinetics and Thermodynamics of Copper(I)/Dioxygen Interaction

Over the past decade, a substantial number of sandwich-type metal complexes with mixed phthalocyaninato and/or porphyrinato ligands have been synthesised. Owing to the intriguing π–π interactions associated with these complexes, this family of sandwich compounds displays unique physical, spectroscopic and electrochemical properties which have aroused great interest from researchers in various disciplines. This article seeks to summarise recent developments in this field of reserach and explain the growing interest in this fascinating and important class of complexes.

Sandwich-type heteroleptic phthalocyaninato and porphyrinato metal complexes

Metal complexes with tetrapyrrole ligands. 50. Redox potentials of sandwichlike metal bis(octaethylporphyrinates) and their correlation with ring-ring distances

Further symmetrical cerium(IV) bisporphyrinates are prepared from cerium(III) acetylacetonate and tetraphenylporphyrin, tetra-p-chlorophenylporphyrin, and hexadecahydrotetrabenzporphyrin. In the latter case, a biscerium(III) triple-decker is also found which is the only product in the case of octamethylporphyrin. From a mixture of two different porphyrins, namely octaethylporphyrin [H2(OEP)] and either tetraphenylporphyrin [H2(TPP)] or tetra-p-chlorophenylporphyrin [H2(TClP)], besides the symmetrical species Ce(OEP)2 and Ce(TPP)2, the unsymmetrical (“mixed”) double-deckers Ce(OEP)(TPP) or Ce(OEP)(TClP) are obtained which have different porphyrin rings in the sandwich system and can be separated by chromatography. The crystal structure analysis of Ce(OEP)(TPP) shows CeIV in a square-antiprismatic geometry of the pyrrole N atoms of the porphyrin rings. While the IR and NMR spectra of the unsymmetrical double-deckers are superpositions of the spectra of the individual rings, their UV/VIS spectra and cyclic voltammograms indicate that the two porphyrin rings behave as a common π-electron system. The preparation of the π-cation radical salts [Ce(OEP)2]ClO4 and [Ce(OEP)(TPP)]SbCl6 is also described. In the latter, the defect electron seems to reside preferentially in the OEP ring.



Metallkomplexe mit Tetrapyrrol-Liganden, LIV. — Synthese, Spektren, Struktur und Redox-Chemie von Cer(VI)-Bisporphyrinaten mit gleichen und verschiedenen Porphyrin-Ringen im Sandwich-System



Weitere symmetrische Cer(IV)-Bisporphyrinate werden aus Cer-(III)-acetylacetonat und Tetraphenylporphyrin, Tetra-p-chlorphenylporphyrin, und Hexadecahydrotetrabenzporphyrin hergestellt. Aus dem letzteren Porphyrin entsteht auch ein Biscer(III)-Tripeldecker; ein solcher bildet sich als einziges Produkt aus Octamethylporphyrin. Aus einem Gemisch zweier verschiedener Porphyrine, namlich Octaethylporphyrin [H2(OEP)], und Tetraphenyl-porphyrin [H2(TPP)] oder Tetra-p-chlorphenylporphyrin [H2-(TClP)] erhalt man neben den symmetrischen Spezies Ce(OEP)2 und Ce(TPP)2 die unsymmetrischen („gemischten”) Doppeldecker Ce(OEP)(TPP) oder Ce(OEP)(TClP), die verschiedene Porphyrin-Ringe im Sandwich-System haben und sich trennen lassen. Die Kristallstrukturanalyse von Ce(OEP)(TPP) zeigt CeIV in quadratisch-antiprismatischer Umgebung der Pyrrol-N-Atome der Porphyrin-Ringe. Wahrend die IR- und NMR-Spektren der unsymmetrischen Doppeldecker-Uberlagerungen der Spektren, die einzelnen Ringe darstellen, zeigen ihre UV/VIS-Spektren und die cyclischen Voltammogramme, das die zwei unterschiedlichen Porphyrin-Ringe sich wie ein gemeinsames π-Elektronensystem verhalten. Die Darstellung der π-Kation-Radikal-Salze [Ce(OEP)2]-ClO4 und [Ce(OEP)(TPP)]SbCl6 wird ebenfalls beschrieben. In letzterem scheint sich das Defektelektron bevorzugt im OEP-Ring aufzuhalten.

Metal complexes with tetrapyrrole ligands, LIV: Synthesis, spectra, structure, and redox properties of cerium(IV) Bisporphyrinates with identical and different porphyrin rings in the sandwich system

Remarkable Ease of Ring Oxidation in Cerium(IV) Bisporphyrinates with Double‐Decker Structure

An initial approach to biologically related bridged assemblies: pyridinethiolate-linked iron Fe4S4-Fe complex systems

La paire de molecules de bacteriochlorophylle dans le centre reactionnel de photosynthese bacterienne est rappelee au moyen des deux proprietes des composes cites dans le titre: 1) le cation radicalaire stable montre une forte absorption dans le proche infrarouge; 2) le potentiel d'oxydoreduction de cette oxydation est bien au-dessous de celui du tetrapyrrole magnesium correspondant

Bernd Scharbert

Papers

Metal complexes with tetrapyrrole ligands. 50. Redox potentials of sandwichlike metal bis(octaethylporphyrinates) and their correlation with ring-ring distances

Metal complexes with tetrapyrrole ligands, LIV: Synthesis, spectra, structure, and redox properties of cerium(IV) Bisporphyrinates with identical and different porphyrin rings in the sandwich system

Remarkable Ease of Ring Oxidation in Cerium(IV) Bisporphyrinates with Double‐Decker Structure

An initial approach to biologically related bridged assemblies: pyridinethiolate-linked iron Fe4S4-Fe complex systems

Erheblich erleichterte Ring-Oxidation an Cer(IV)-bisporphyrinaten mit Doppeldeckerstruktur