Rotaxane palindromic

Figure 6.10 Palindromic rotaxane 118+ and redox-controlled switching between its contracted and extended forms.

Figure 17.8 A molecular muscle based on a self-assembled monolayer of the palindromic bistable rotaxane 9S+ (a), anchored on the gold surface of microcantilever beams (b).81 (Adapted with permission from V. Balzani et al., ChemPhysChem 2008, 9, 202-220. Copyright Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH Co. KGaA.)...

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... 

Fig. 31 Mechanical actuation of a gold-coated microcantilever by molecular muscles [227]. (a) Structural formula of a palindromic, bistable [3]rotaxane with gold-binding dithiolane groups attached to the cyclophanes. (b) Reversible bending up and down of a cantilever by actuation of a monolayer ( 8 billion molecules) of the rotaxanes on its surface. The gold surface bends when the rotaxanes contract under the influence of an electrochemical oxidation that causes the cyclophanes to shuttle inward from the periphery of the molecule, (c) Electrochemical cell (Ag/AgCl, Pt, and the cantilever are the reference, counter, and working electrodes, respectively) and combined AFM device used to measure the bending by detecting a laser beam reflected off of the cantilever s surface...

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