Rise of molecular machines
Chemists are putting molecules to work in ways only limited by our imagination
As I extend an arm to pick up my cup of coffee there is an army of miniature machines operating inside my bicep. But what is it that makes the biomolecules in a muscle organise themselves into a powerful instrument, whilst the collections of atoms swilling around inside my cup are inanimate?
Our bodies are full of molecular machines and their synthetic counterparts may soon be all around us too
Nuts and bolts
Mastering and mimicking how molecular machines work has been a fascinating adventure for chemists, and one in which their creativity has been unleashed. The parts that make up the tiny world of molecular machines are described using familiar terms: an alkyl chain might be called a piston, for example, or a benzene ring a wheel. But before these tiny machines could be built, an in depth knowledge of how to hold the component pieces together was needed.
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