Mechanically Processive Motion in Synthetic Molecular-level Structures: Transition Metal Complexes that can Walk!

这项研究项目的目的是制造分子马达和机器，就像许多生物马达和机器一样，沿着轨道移动。我们在日常生活中使用的机器是由运动部件(齿轮、轮子、主轴、活塞等)组成的，每个运动部件的运动都用于执行机器整体功能所必需的任务。但当我们试图让这些东西变得非常小时会发生什么？我们能制造出分子大小的机器吗？答案是肯定的，但他们的设计并不简单或明显。我们对大型机器工作方式的日常观察形成了我们的直觉，当我们考虑分子大小的结构时，它就失败了。宏观物体保持静止，直到受到推力/能量输入/但分子大小的物体一直在运动(布朗运动)，必须消耗能量来阻止它们移动，或使它们只朝着一个方向移动。出于这个原因，将发动机和发动机从宏观世界缩小到分子水平是行不通的，我们必须找到另一个解决方案。对于这个项目，我们建议遵循生物学在数十亿年的进化过程中发现的一种策略，即制造沿着轨道移动的机器，利用而不是抵抗布朗运动。该提议的最终结果可能是一代人造纳米机器，能够在分子长度尺度上运输微小的货物。

The aim of this research project is to make molecular motors and machines which, like many biological motors and machines, move along tracks. The machines we use in everyday life are made up of assemblies of moving parts (cogs, wheels, spindles, pistons etc), the movement of each of which is used to perform a task necessary for the overall function of the machine. But what happens when we try to make such things very small, can we make molecular-sized machines? The answer is yes, but their designs are not simple or obvious. Our intuition, formed by the everyday observation of the way large machines work, fails when we consider molecular-sized structures. Macroscopic objects remain stationary until given a push / an energy input / but molecular sized objects are constantly in motion (Brownian motion) and energy must be expended to stop them moving, or to cause them to move in one direction only. For this reason, scaling down motors and engines from the macroscopic world to the molecular level simply does not work, we have to find another solution. For this project we propose to follow a strategy that biology has found through billions of years of evolution, i.e. make machines that move along tracks, exploiting rather than resisting Brownian motion. The ultimate outcome of the proposal could be a generation of artificial nanomachines capable of transporting a tiny cargo on molecular length scales.