Efficient Motion in Circularly Arranged Sextuple Triptycene Molecular Gears

Molecular machines are compounds which can perform tasks or work given an external stimulus. One of the simplest tools available to scientists interested in nanoscale machines are molecular gears. Like their macroscale counterparts, molecular gears can turn and cause rotation in another part of the molecule in a controlled manner. While several molecular gears have been prepared to date, most are simple and only involve two or three gears parts in a system. Recently, the Shionoya group has prepared intricate molecular gears systems, involving four or six gears moving together. While these systems are promising for future development of more complicated molecular machines, they suffer due to inefficient rotation, causing slow rotation around the gears. We propose the preparation of a new molecular gear, based on the previous six-gear system developed by Shionoya, however with more sterically bulky groups to help cause more efficient rotation.

Faculty Supervisor:

Mark MacLachlan

Student:

Partner:

The University of Tokyo

Discipline:

Physics

Sector:

Education

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program: