Molecular self-assembly is the spontaneous association of molecules under equilibrium conditions into stable, structurally well-defined aggregates joined by noncovalent bonds. Molecular self-assembly is ubiquitous in biological systems and underlies the formation of a wide variety of complex biological structures. Understanding self-assembly and the associated noncovalent interactions that connect complementary interacting molecular surfaces in biological aggregates is a central concern in structural biochemistry. Self-assembly is also emerging as a new strategy in chemical synthesis, with the potential of generating nonbiological structures with dimensions of 1 to 10(2) nanometers (with molecular weights of 10(4) to 10(10) daltons). Structures in the upper part of this range of sizes are presently inaccessible through chemical synthesis, and the ability to prepare them would open a route to structures comparable in size (and perhaps complementary in function) to those that can be prepared by microlithography and other techniques of microfabrication.

Molecular self-assembly and nanochemistry: A chemical strategy for the synthesis of nanostructures

The widespread use of controlled molecular-level motion in key natural processes suggests that great rewards could come from bridging the gap between the present generation of synthetic molecular systems, which by and large rely upon electronic and chemical effects to carry out their functions, and the machines of the macroscopic world, which utilize the synchronized movements of smaller parts to perform specific tasks. This is a scientific area of great contemporary interest and extraordinary recent growth, yet the notion of molecular-level machines dates back to a time when the ideas surrounding the statistical nature of matter and the laws of thermodynamics were first being formulated. Here we outline the exciting successes in taming molecular-level movement thus far, the underlying principles that all experimental designs must follow, and the early progress made towards utilizing synthetic molecular structures to perform tasks using mechanical motion. We also highlight some of the issues and challenges that still need to be overcome.

Synthetic molecular motors and mechanical machines.

The miniaturization of components used in the construction of working devices is being pursued currently by the large-downward (top-down) fabrication. This approach, however, which obliges solid-state physicists and electronic engineers to manipulate progressively smaller and smaller pieces of matter, has its intrinsic limitations. An alternative approach is a small-upward (bottom-up) one, starting from the smallest compositions of matter that have distinct shapes and unique properties-namely molecules. In the context of this particular challenge, chemists have been extending the concept of a macroscopic machine to the molecular level. A molecular-level machine can be defined as an assembly of a distinct number of molecular components that are designed to perform machinelike movements (output) as a result of an appropriate external stimulation (input). In common with their macroscopic counterparts, a molecular machine is characterized by 1) the kind of energy input supplied to make it work, 2) the nature of the movements of its component parts, 3) the way in which its operation can be monitored and controlled, 4) the ability to make it repeat its operation in a cyclic fashion, 5) the timescale needed to complete a full cycle of movements, and 6) the purpose of its operation. Undoubtedly, the best energy inputs to make molecular machines work are photons or electrons. Indeed, with appropriately chosen photochemically and electrochemically driven reactions, it is possible to design and synthesize molecular machines that do work. Moreover, the dramatic increase in our fundamental understanding of self-assembly and self-organizational processes in chemical synthesis has aided and abetted the construction of artificial molecular machines through the development of new methods of noncovalent synthesis and the emergence of supramolecular assistance to covalent synthesis as a uniquely powerful synthetic tool. The aim of this review is to present a unified view of the field of molecular machines by focusing on past achievements, present limitations, and future perspectives. After analyzing a few important examples of natural molecular machines, the most significant developments in the field of artificial molecular machines are highlighted. The systems reviewed include 1) chemical rotors, 2) photochemically and electrochemically induced molecular (conformational) rearrangements, and 3) chemically, photochemically, and electrochemically controllable (co-conformational) motions in interlocked molecules (catenanes and rotaxanes), as well as in coordination and supramolecular complexes, including pseudorotaxanes. Artificial molecular machines based on biomolecules and interfacing artificial molecular machines with surfaces and solid supports are amongst some of the cutting-edge topics featured in this review. The extension of the concept of a machine to the molecular level is of interest not only for the sake of basic research, but also for the growth of nanoscience and the subsequent development of nanotechnology.

Artificial Molecular Machines.

Dynamic covalent chemistry relates to chemical reactions carried out reversibly under conditions of equilibrium control. The reversible nature of the reactions introduces the prospects of "error checking" and "proof-reading" into synthetic processes where dynamic covalent chemistry operates. Since the formation of products occurs under thermodynamic control, product distributions depend only on the relative stabilities of the final products. In kinetically controlled reactions, however, it is the free energy differences between the transition states leading to the products that determines their relative proportions. Supramolecular chemistry has had a huge impact on synthesis at two levels: one is noncovalent synthesis, or strict self-assembly, and the other is supramolecular assistance to molecular synthesis, also referred to as self-assembly followed by covalent modification. Noncovalent synthesis has given us access to finite supermolecules and infinite supramolecular arrays. Supramolecular assistance to covalent synthesis has been exploited in the construction of more-complex systems, such as interlocked molecular compounds (for example, catenanes and rotaxanes) as well as container molecules (molecular capsules). The appealing prospect of also synthesizing these types of compounds with complex molecular architectures using reversible covalent bond forming chemistry has led to the development of dynamic covalent chemistry. Historically, dynamic covalent chemistry has played a central role in the development of conformational analysis by opening up the possibility to be able to equilibrate configurational isomers, sometimes with base (for example, esters) and sometimes with acid (for example, acetals). These stereochemical "balancing acts" revealed another major advantage that dynamic covalent chemistry offers the chemist, which is not so easily accessible in the kinetically controlled regime: the ability to re-adjust the product distribution of a reaction, even once the initial products have been formed, by changing the reaction's environment (for example, concentration, temperature, presence or absence of a template). This highly transparent, yet tremendously subtle, characteristic of dynamic covalent chemistry has led to key discoveries in polymer chemistry. In this review, some recent examples where dynamic covalent chemistry has been demonstrated are shown to emphasise the basic concepts of this area of science.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/1521-3773%2820020503%2941%3A9%3C1460%3A%3AAID-ANIE11111460%3E3.0.CO%3B2-N

Dynamic covalent chemistry.

We gratefully acknowledge funding and support from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Thanks are also due to the KAUST communication department for designing several images for this Review.

Magnetically recoverable nanocatalysts.

General Oxygenation Procedure. An apparently heterogeneous mixture of an olefin (cyclohexene, 1-pentene, or styrene, 1 g), NaBH, (300 mg, 7.9 mmol), (OEP)RhnxCl (4.0 mg, 6 pmol; [Rh] = 0.6 mM), and an internal standard (p-xylene, mesitylene, or durene, appropriate amount) in dry THF (10 mL) exposed to dry air was stirred a t 20-25 \"C. The oxygenation of 1-methylcyclohexene was carried out by using the rhodium catalyst in an amount 2 or 20 times as much as that used above ([Rh] = 1.2 or 12 mM). The electronic spectra of the reaction mixture underwent no significant change even after 100 h. The formation of oxygenation products was monitored by gas chromatography. Similarly was carried out the oxygenation of 1,5-cyclooctadiene and acetylenes (1-heptyne and 3-heptyne) by using substrate (300 mg), NaBH, (300 mg), and (OEP)RhmC1 or (TPP)RhInC1 (4.0 mg) in THF (20 mL). Reaction products, after conversion if necessary to silylated derivatives, were identified by gas chromatography on the basis of coinjection with authentic samples, and their yields determined also by gas chromatography. 2-Methylcyclohexanol as a mixture of stereoisomers arising from the oxygenation of 1-methylcyclohexene was purified by preparative gas chromatography. The stereoisomer distribution was determined by 'H NMR spectroscopy by taking advantage of the characteristic signals for hydroxymethine protons a t 6 3.1 (for E isomer) and 3.75 (for 2 isomer). The following control runs were carried out by using cyclohexene as substrate: (1) without rhodium porphyrin catalyst, (2) without 02, (3) without NaBH,, and (4) with NaBH(OCHJ3 in place of NaBH,. In neither case was detected oxygenation of substrate to any significant extent. Another control run using cyclohexene oxide in place of cyclohexene under otherwise identical oxygenation conditions did not give cyclohexanol. Borane Transfer. A mixture of (0EP)Rh\"'Cl (40 mg, 0.06 mmol), NaBH4 (100 mg, 2.64 mmol), and 1-pentene (70 mg, 1.0 mmol) in T H F (2 mL) in a vessel sealed with a rubber septum was degassed by freezepumpthaw cycles and was stirred a t room temperature for 19 h. The electronic spectrum of the mixture showed A, a t 395,514, and 545 nm, indicating the formation of (OEP)RhH? Following the standard procedure for the analysis of organoboranes,28 the mixture was then subjected to gas chromatography at 170 OC on a column of silicone SE-30 (2 m), which had been treated with Silyl-8 (Pierce Chemical Co.) to mask protic sites with trimethylsilyl groups. The product was readily identified as tripentylborane on the basis of coinjection with the authentic sample prepared by hydroboration of olefin with diborane under standard conditions. The mixture was exposed to air, stirred for 20 min, and then analyzed by gas chromatography to show the formation of 1-pentanol and 2-pentanol (94:6, in a total yield of 45% based on mol of Rh complex used). Oxidation of Alkylborane. A T H F solution of (E)-bis(2methy1cyclohexyl)borane\" was prepared by the hydroboration of 1-methylcyclohexene (96 mg, 1.0 mmol) with borane-THF (1 M) (0.5 mL, 0.5 mmol) in THF (1 mL) under nitrogen. To this was added 1 N aqueous NaOH (0.5 mL), and the mixture was stirred under air atmosphere for 20 h. Gas chromatographic analysis using silicone DCQF-1 showed the formation of 2methylcyclohexanol with the stereoisomer ratio of E / Z = 7624. Another control run for the oxidation of alkylborane with O2 was carried out in the presence of NaBH, (38 mg, 1.0 mmol) instead of aqueous NaOH under otherwise identical conditions and gave the isomer ratio of E / Z = 81:19. A solution of (E)-bis(2-methylcyclohexyl)borane in THF (0.21 mL) was prepared as above starting from the olefin (15.4 mg, 0.16 mmol). This solution was added to (OEP)RhH15 (100 mg, 0.16 mmol) under nitrogen. The mixture was then allowed to contact with a gentle stream of THF-saturated air for 20 h. Gas chromatography coupled with 'H NMR analysis indicated almost exclusive formation of (E)-2-methylcyclohexanol.

Fast and selective oxidation of primary alcohols to aldehydes or to carboxylic acids and of secondary alcohols to ketones mediated by oxoammonium salts under two-phase conditions

Molecular meccano. 1. [2]Rotaxanes and a [2]catenane made to order

The molecular shuttle described in this communication is the prototype for the construction of more intricate molecular assemblies where the components will be designed to receive, store, transfer, and transmit information in a highly controllable manner, following their spontaneous self-assembly at the supramolecular level. Increasingly, we can look forward to a «bottom-up» approach to nanotechnology which is targeted toward the development of molecular-scale information processing systems

A molecular shuttle

Oxidation of diols with alkali hypochlorites catalyzed by oxammonium salts under two-phase conditions

A number of nanometer-scale molecular assemblies, based on rotaxane-type structures, have been synthesized by means of a template-directed strategy from simple building blocks that, on account of the molecular recognition arising from the noncovalent interactions between them, are able to self-assemble into potential molecular abacuses. In all the cases investigated, the π-electron-deficient tetracationic cyclophane cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) is constrained mechanically around a dumbbell-shaped component consisting of a linear polyether chain intercepted by at least two, if not three, π-electron-rich units and terminated at each end by blocking groups or stoppers. The development of an approach toward constructing these molecular abacuses, in which the tetracationic cyclophane is able to shuttle back and forth with respect to the dumbbell-shaped component, begins with the self-assembly of a [2]rotaxane consisting of two hydroquinone rings symmetrically positioned within a polyether chain terminated by triisopropylsilyl ether blocking groups. In this first so-called molecular shuttle, the tetracationic cyclophane oscillates in a degenerate fashion between the two π-electron-rich hydroquinone rings. Replacement of one of the hydroquinone rings—or the insertion of another π-electron-rich ring system between the two hydroquinine rings—introduces the possibility of translational isomerism, a phenomenon that arises because of the different relative positions and populations of the tetracationic cyclophane with respect to the π-donor sites on the dumbbell-shaped component. In two subsequent [2]rotaxanes, one of the hydroquinone rings in the dumbbell-shaped component is replaced, first by a p-xylyl and then by an indole unit. Finally, a tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) unit is positioned between two hydroquinone rings in the dumbbell-shaped component. Spectroscopic and electrochemical investigations carried out on these first-generation molecular shuttles show that they could be developed as molecular switches.

Pier Lucio Anelli

Papers

Fast and selective oxidation of primary alcohols to aldehydes or to carboxylic acids and of secondary alcohols to ketones mediated by oxoammonium salts under two-phase conditions

Molecular meccano. 1. [2]Rotaxanes and a [2]catenane made to order

A molecular shuttle

Oxidation of diols with alkali hypochlorites catalyzed by oxammonium salts under two-phase conditions

Toward Controllable Molecular Shuttles