Linear Artificial Molecular Muscles

Two switchable, palindromically constituted bistable [3]rotaxanes have been designed and synthesized with a pair of mechanically mobile rings encircling a single dumbbell. These designs are reminiscent of a "molecular muscle" for the purposes of amplifying and harnessing molecular mechanical motions. The location of the two cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) (CBPQT(4+)) rings can be controlled to be on either tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) or naphthalene (NP) stations, either chemically ((1)H NMR spectroscopy) or electrochemically (cyclic voltammetry), such that switching of inter-ring distances from 4.2 to 1.4 nm mimics the contraction and extension of skeletal muscle, albeit on a shorter length scale. Fast scan-rate…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: 0103559, 0092036, 9974928
• NA
  National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• SN
  Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung

  Awards: 21-03, 10355, 103559
• DA
  Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
• AR
  Advanced Research Projects Agency
• DO
  Division of Chemistry