Molecular machines and motors
Chemists can build single molecules with parts that move relative to each other when energy is added: rings that slide along rods, and motors that spin in one direction. Examples include a molecular lift, a molecular muscle and a tiny four-wheeled "nanocar".
Nobel Prize press release, 5 Oct 2016How far from your life: Usually 10 years or more from products, and most never get there.
From lab to your life
Why it’s on step 1
- 1Lab discovery
- 2Working prototype
- 3Real-world testing
- 4Approved or on sale
- 5Everyday life
The rule
Shown in a lab or a computer model, in a published paper or preprint, with nothing on record beyond it yet.
Nothing on the record yet takes it past a lab result.
The short version
What you need to know
- Why it matters
They will most likely be used to develop new materials, sensors and energy storage.
Nobel Prize press release, 5 Oct 2016- Is it really nano?
Truly nano
Each machine is a single molecule, a few nanometers across.
Nobel Prize press release, 5 Oct 2016- Who’s behind it
Labs worldwide, building on Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Fraser Stoddart and Ben Feringa
On the record
Every step, dated
Newest first. Company-reported means the only source so far is the company itself.
- On the record
Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Fraser Stoddart and Ben Feringa won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for designing and making molecular machines. The committee said the molecular motor was at the stage the electric motor reached in the 1830s.
Nobel Prize press release, 5 Oct 2016
Sources
Where every line comes from
Each source with the passage, word for word, that backs what we wrote.
- Nobel Prize press release, 5 Oct 2016
They have developed molecules with controllable movements, which can perform a task when energy is added.
More in Tiny machines
- DNA nanorobots for cancerStep 2 · PrototypeA sheet of DNA origami rolled into a tube carries a blood-clotting enzyme.
- Magnetic microrobots for drug deliveryStep 2 · PrototypeA tiny gel capsule loaded with medicine and iron oxide nanoparticles is steered through blood vessels with magnets.
- DNA origamiStep 1 · LabDNA origami folds a long strand of DNA into chosen shapes and patterns a few nanometers in size, held in place by short DNA strands, like a pegboard on which other molecules can be placed exactly.