TOOLBOX FOR SWITCHABLE MOLECULAR SYSTEMS EXPANDS

摘要

Researchers are interested in molecular machines-microscopic analogues of macroscopic objects such as rotors, tweezers, and grippers-for applications in nanorobotics, drug delivery, and fundamental physical organic chemistry studies. Many types of molecular machines have been reported in the literature, including molecular grippers that can grab and release a guest molecule in response to external stimuli such as pH, temperature, light, or metal ion concentration. Francois Diederich and co-workers have developed a new class of redox-switchable molecular grippers that expands the repertoire of molecular machines.