Researchers measure single-molecule machines in action

In the development of future molecular devices, new display technologies, and "artificial muscles" in nanoelectromechanical devices, functional molecules are likely to play a primary role. Rotaxanes, one family of such molecules, are tiny, mechanically interlocked structures that consist of a dumbell-shaped molecule whose rod section is encircled by a ring. These structures behave as molecular "machines," with the ring moving along the rod from one station to another when stimulated by a chemical reaction, light or acidity.

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