Molecular Machines: Synthesis, Modeling, and Applications

While some of the smallest, most useful machines known to science are the biological molecules that keep living organisms alive, there is a growing advancement of the creation of artificial molecules that have the same function and are more efficient. Molecular machines were invented in 1983 when scientists in France created a machine formed of two interlinked molecular rings. In 2016, the Nobel prize in chemistry was awarded to Feringa, Stoddart, and Sauvage who finally documented molecular machines and put them into energy‐filled states in which their movements could be controlled. From this, molecular machines became known as a group of molecular components that produce quasi-mechanical movements when exposed to specific stimuli. Thus, from this invention came progress through which more advanced molecular machines were created such as those with the ability to act as a motor, propeller, or switch. The implication of these discoveries sets the stage for applications in both microchips and the human body. Molecular machines have various general applications in chemistry, and more specifically, applications such as the realization of directed motions, which can be applied within the protein kinesin, synthetic polyelectrolytes by utilization of rotaxane, and catalysts