Article (Scientific journals)
Synthetic oligorotaxanes exert high forces when folding under mechanical load
Sluysmans, Damien; Hubert, Sandrine; Bruns, Carson et al.
2018In Nature Nanotechnology, 13, p. 209-213
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Keywords :
molecular machines; supramolecular chemistry; AFM
Abstract :
[en] Folding is a ubiquitous process that nature uses to control the conformations of its molecular machines, allowing them to perform chemical and mechanical tasks. Over the years, chemists have synthesized foldamers that adopt well-defined and stable folded architectures, mimicking the control expressed by natural systems. Mechanically interlocked molecules, such as rotaxanes and catenanes, are prototypical molecular machines that enable the controlled movement and positioning of their component parts. Recently, combining the exquisite complexity of these two classes of molecules, donor–acceptor oligorotaxane foldamers have been synthesized, in which interactions between the mechanically interlocked component parts dictate the single-molecule assembly into a folded secondary structure. Here we report on the mechanochemical properties of these molecules. We use atomic force microscopy-based single-molecule force spectroscopy to mechanically unfold oligorotaxanes, made of oligomeric dumbbells incorporating 1,5-dioxynaphthalene units encircled by cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) rings. Real-time capture of fluctuations between unfolded and folded states reveals that the molecules exert forces of up to 50 pN against a mechanical load of up to 150 pN, and displays transition times of less than 10 μs. While the folding is at least as fast as that observed in proteins, it is remarkably more robust, thanks to the mechanically interlocked structure. Our results show that synthetic oligorotaxanes have the potential to exceed the performance of natural folding proteins.
Disciplines :
Chemistry
Author, co-author :
Sluysmans, Damien  ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de chimie (sciences) > Nanochimie et systèmes moléculaires
Hubert, Sandrine ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de chimie (sciences) > Nanochimie et systèmes moléculaires
Bruns, Carson
Zhu, Zhixue
Stoddart, J. Fraser
Duwez, Anne-Sophie  ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de chimie (sciences) > Nanochimie et systèmes moléculaires
Language :
English
Title :
Synthetic oligorotaxanes exert high forces when folding under mechanical load
Publication date :
2018
Journal title :
Nature Nanotechnology
ISSN :
1748-3387
eISSN :
1748-3395
Publisher :
Nature Publishing Group, London, United Kingdom
Volume :
13
Pages :
209-213
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Available on ORBi :
since 02 January 2018

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