Incorporating Mechanically Interlocked Molecules into Solid State Materials

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Chemists know how to synthesize nanoscale switches and machines that are comprised of molecules held together by mechanical linkages (i.e. the way that rings are interlocked to make a chain). However, these elaborate molecules only function in solution where the molecules are randomly dispersed and their motion incoherent. If these extremely tiny devices could be organized in a predictable and orderly manner, the ideas of creating ultra-dense molecular-based memory or controlling electronic properties of materials at the molecular level would be very much closer to realization. One way to achieve a higher level of molecular organization and coherency would be to organize the soft and dynamic molecular components that undergo motion (e.g. rotation or translation) into the pores of a solid state material. The preparation of such a prototype material and demonstration of its internal dynamics in the solid state has recently been achieved by our research group (June 2012, front cover of Nature Chemistry). This discovery provides a roadmap for the organization of molecular switches and molecular machines in solid state materials and is the basis of this research proposal.We will continue to develop methodologies for producing this new class of material and we will investigate their properties and potential applications. In particular, (a) ferroelectrics and (b) optical properties, as these are dependent on ordering and arrangement of molecular components in solids as well as (c) gas storage potential, since the addition of soft components with large surface area may enhance the very weak interactions required to achieve hydrogen gas storage at ambient temperature.The ability to arrange mobile and functional molecular components in a highly dense and predictable array is a crucial step towards the generation of nanoscale, solid-state devices based on bottom-up fabrication using molecular components.