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Schied M, Prezzi D, Liu D, Kowarik S, Jacobson PA, Corni S, Tour JM, Grill L. Chirality-Specific Unidirectional Rotation of Molecular Motors on Cu(111). ACS Nano 2023; 17:3958-3965. [PMID: 36757212 PMCID: PMC9979643 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.2c12720] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2022] [Accepted: 01/31/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Molecular motors have chemical properties that enable unidirectional motion, thus breaking microscopic reversibility. They are well studied in solution, but much less is known regarding their behavior on solid surfaces. Here, single motor molecules adsorbed on a Cu(111) surface are excited by voltages pulses from an STM tip, which leads to their rotation around a fixed pivot point. Comparison with calculations shows that this axis results from a chemical bond of a sulfur atom in the chemical structure and a metal atom of the surface. While statistics show approximately equal rotations in both directions, clockwise and anticlockwise, a detailed study reveals that these motions are enantiomer-specific. Hence, the rotation direction of each individual molecule depends on its chirality, which can be determined from STM images. At first glance, these dynamics could be assigned to the activation of the motor molecule, but our results show that this is unlikely as the molecule remains in the same conformation after rotation. Additionally, a control molecule, although it lacks unidirectional rotation in solution, also shows unidirectional rotation for each enantiomer. Hence, it seems that the unidirectional rotation is not specifically related to the motor property of the molecule. The calculated energy barriers for motion show that the propeller-like motor activity requires higher energy than the simple rotation of the molecule as a rigid object, which is therefore preferred.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monika Schied
- Department
of Physical Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, University of Graz, Heinrichstraße 28, 8010 Graz, Austria
| | - Deborah Prezzi
- Nanoscience
Institute of the National Research Council (CNR-NANO), via G. Campi 213/a, 41125 Modena, Italy
| | - Dongdong Liu
- Departments
of Chemistry and Materials Science and NanoEngineering, the Smalley
Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, the Welch Institute
for Advanced Materials and the NanoCarbon Laboratory, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
| | - Stefan Kowarik
- Department
of Physical Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, University of Graz, Heinrichstraße 28, 8010 Graz, Austria
| | - Peter A. Jacobson
- Department
of Physical Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, University of Graz, Heinrichstraße 28, 8010 Graz, Austria
| | - Stefano Corni
- Nanoscience
Institute of the National Research Council (CNR-NANO), via G. Campi 213/a, 41125 Modena, Italy
- Dipartimento
di Scienze Chimiche, Università di
Padova, Padova I-35131, Italy
| | - James M. Tour
- Departments
of Chemistry and Materials Science and NanoEngineering, the Smalley
Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, the Welch Institute
for Advanced Materials and the NanoCarbon Laboratory, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
| | - Leonhard Grill
- Department
of Physical Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, University of Graz, Heinrichstraße 28, 8010 Graz, Austria
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