ORGN 346 |
| The thrust to design single-molecule-sized nanoscale machines with controlled mechanical motion has yielded a variety of molecular machinery resembling macroscopic motors, switches, shuttles, turnstiles, gears, bearings, and elevators. With the hope of directing future bottom-up fabrication through bulk external stimuli, such as electric fields, on nanometer-sized transporters, we studied controlled molecular motion on surfaces through the rational design of surface-capable molecular structures called nanocars: nanometer-sized vehicles that are each a single molecule possessing four wheels (spherical C60 units) connected through four independently-rotating axles (alkynes) to a chassis (an OPE moiety). The observed movement of the nanocars was not stick-slip action, but instead directed rolling motion perpendicular to the axles. The studies here underscore the ability to control directionality of motion in molecular-sized nanostructures through precise molecular synthesis. Further studies are concentrating on electric field-induced motion of nanocars and nanotrains, and use of nanotrucks for assisted small molecule transport across surfaces.
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Organic Approaches to Nanotechnology
8:00 AM-12:00 PM, Tuesday, 12 September 2006 Moscone Center -- Room 135, Oral
Division of Organic Chemistry |
