Beautiful Mechanically Interlocked Molecular Machines and Switches

5 Beautiful Mechanically Interlocked Molecular Machines and Switches 

We live in an era that beautifies machines, from automobiles to computers. Arguably the most compelling aspect of MIMs - at least those templated by noncovalent bonding interactions - is their susceptibility to controlled mechanical motion of 

We are unlikely to appreciate a car that does not run or a computer that does not compute. Likewise, molecular switches that bump and tumble randomly in solution cannot yield a functional effect they must be organized in bulk or at interfaces to produce a coherent and cooperative effect of technological relevance [223-225], Only then might it be possible to dub them machines in the true sense of the word. Thus, the most beautiful molecular machines are those [222] that we put to work for us. Here we provide several examples. 

Would not it be amazing if the tiny nanomotions of molecular machines could be cooperatively scaled up to do work on macroscopic objects Toward that end, it has been demonstrated [226, 227] that a monolayer of molecular muscles - palindromic bistable [3]rotaxanes (Fig. 31a) immobilized on the surface of a thin 

The use of molecular mechanical motions to do work and perform technologically important functions is beautiful in a similar way to technomorphs (Sect. 3.5) it draws a connection to the machines we know and use every day while demanding that we be creative to challenge the limits of what molecular machines can do, coming from a world where Brownian motion rules the roost. 

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