Schliwa, M. & Woehlke, G. Molecular motors. Nature 422, 759–765 (2003).
Howard, J. Protein power strokes. Curr. Biol. 16, R517–R519 (2006).
Astumian, R. D. Irrelevance of the power stroke for the directionality, stopping force, and optimal efficiency of chemically driven molecular machines. Biophys. J. 108, 291–303 (2015).
Hoffmann, P. M. How molecular motors extract order from chaos (a key issues review). Rep. Prog. Phys. 79, 032601 (2016).
Hwang, W. & Karplus, M. Structural basis for power stroke vs. Brownian ratchet mechanisms of motor proteins. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 116, 19777–19785 (2019).
Amano, S., Borsley, S., Leigh, D. A. & Sun, Z. Chemical engines: driving systems away from equilibrium through catalyst reaction cycles. Nat. Nanotechnol. 16, 1057–1067 (2021).
Amano, S. et al. Using catalysis to drive chemistry away from equilibrium: relating kinetic asymmetry, power strokes and the Curtin–Hammett principle in Brownian ratchets. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 144, 20153–20164 (2022).
Sweeney, H. L. & Houdusse, A. Structural and functional insights into the Myosin motor mechanism. Annu. Rev. Biophys. 39, 539–557 (2010).
Borsley, S., Kreidt, E., Leigh, D. A. & Roberts, B. M. W. Autonomous fuelled directional rotation about a covalent single bond. Nature 604, 80–85 (2022).
Astumian, R. D. Kinetic asymmetry and directionality of nonequilibrium molecular systems. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 63, e202306569 (2024).
Borsley, S., Leigh, D. A. & Roberts, B. M. W. Molecular ratchets and kinetic asymmetry: giving chemistry direction. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 63, e202400495 (2024).
Ragazzon, G. & Prins, L. J. Energy consumption in chemical fuel-driven self-assembly. Nat. Nanotechnol. 13, 882–889 (2018).
Schwarz, P. S., Tena-Solsona, M., Dai, K. & Boekhoven, J. Carbodiimide-fuelled catalytic reaction cycles to regulate supramolecular processes. Chem. Commun. 58, 1284–1297 (2022).
Sangchai, T., Al Shehimy, S., Penocchio, E. & Ragazzon, G. Artificial molecular ratchets: tools enabling endergonic processes. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 62, e202309501 (2023).
Koumura, N., Zijlstra, R. W. J., van Delden, R. A., Harada, N. & Feringa, B. L. Light-driven monodirectional molecular rotor. Nature 401, 152–155 (1999).
Leigh, D. A., Wong, J. K. Y., Dehez, F. & Zerbetto, F. Unidirectional rotation in a mechanically interlocked molecular rotor. Nature 424, 174–179 (2003).
Guentner, M. et al. Sunlight-powered kHz rotation of a hemithioindigo-based molecular motor. Nat. Commun. 6, 8406 (2015).
Wilson, M. R. et al. An autonomous chemically fuelled small-molecule motor. Nature 534, 235–240 (2016).
Erbas-Cakmak, S. et al. Rotary and linear molecular motors driven by pulses of a chemical fuel. Science 358, 340–343 (2017).
Pumm, A.-K. et al. A DNA origami rotary ratchet motor. Nature 607, 492–498 (2022).
Zhang, L. et al. An electric molecular motor. Nature 613, 280–286 (2023).
Berreur, J. et al. Redox-powered autonomous unidirectional rotation about a C–C bond under enzymatic control. Preprint at https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2024-tz8vc (2024).
Serreli, V., Lee, C.-F., Kay, E. R. & Leigh, D. A. A molecular information ratchet. Nature 445, 523–527 (2007).
Feng, L. et al. Active mechanisorption driven by pumping cassettes. Science 374, 1215–1221 (2021).
Amano, S., Fielden, S. D. P. & Leigh, D. A. A catalysis-driven artificial molecular pump. Nature 594, 529–534 (2021).
Borsley, S., Leigh, D. A. & Roberts, B. M. W. A doubly kinetically-gated information ratchet autonomously driven by carbodiimide hydration. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 143, 4414–4420 (2021).
Thomas, D. et al. Pumping between phases with a pulsed-fuel molecular ratchet. Nat. Nanotechnol. 17, 701–707 (2022).
Corra, S. et al. Kinetic and energetic insights into the dissipative non-equilibrium operation of an autonomous light-powered supramolecular pump. Nat. Nanotechnol. 17, 746–751 (2022).
Binks, L. et al. The role of kinetic asymmetry and power strokes in an information ratchet. Chem 9, 2902–2917 (2023).
Li, Q. et al. Macroscopic contraction of a gel induced by the integrated motion of light-driven molecular motors. Nat. Nanotechnol. 10, 161–165 (2015).
Foy, J. T. et al. Dual-light control of nanomachines that integrate motor and modulator subunits. Nat. Nanotechnol. 12, 540–545 (2017).
Perrot, A., Wang, W.-Z., Buhler, E., Moulin, E. & Giuseppone, N. Bending actuation of hydrogels through rotation of light-driven molecular motors. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 62, e202300263 (2023).
Tena-Solsona, M. et al. Non-equilibrium dissipative supramolecular materials with a tunable lifetime. Nat. Commun. 8, 15895 (2017).
Kariyawasam, L. S. & Hartley, C. S. Dissipative assembly of aqueous carboxylic acid anhydrides fueled by carbodiimides. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 139, 11949–11955 (2017).
Borsley, S., Leigh, D. A. & Roberts, B. M. W. Chemical fuels for molecular machinery. Nat. Chem. 14, 728–738 (2022).
Liang, L. & Astruc, D. The copper(i)-catalyzed alkyne–azide cycloaddition (CuAAC) ‘click’ reaction and its applications. An overview. Coord. Chem. Rev. 255, 2933–2945 (2011).
Hagel, J., Haraszti, T. & Boehm, H. Diffusion and interaction in PEG-DA hydrogels. Biointerphases 8, 36 (2013).
Yavari, N. & Azizian, S. Mixed diffusion and relaxation kinetics model for hydrogels swelling. J. Mol. Liq. 363, 119861 (2022).
Goujon, A. et al. Bistable [c2] daisy chain rotaxanes as reversible muscle-like actuators in mechanically active gels. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 139, 14825–14828 (2017).
Colard-Itté, J.-R. et al. Mechanical behaviour of contractile gels based on light-driven molecular motors. Nanoscale 11, 5197–5202 (2019).
Sakai, T. et al. Design and fabrication of a high-strength hydrogel with ideally homogeneous network structure from tetrahedron-like macromonomers. Macromolecules 41, 5379–5384 (2008).
Ashbridge, Z. et al. Knotting matters: orderly molecular entanglements. Chem. Soc. Rev. 51, 7779–7809 (2022).
Baiesi, M., Orlandini, E. & Whittington, S. G. Interplay between writhe and knotting for swollen and compact polymers. J. Chem. Phys. 131, 154902 (2009).
Hu, L., Zhang, Q., Li, X. & Serpe, M. J. Stimuli-responsive polymers for sensing and actuation. Mater. Horiz. 6, 1774–1793 (2019).
Howse, J. R. et al. Reciprocating power generation in a chemically driven synthetic muscle. Nano Lett. 6, 73–77 (2006).
Chatterjee, M. N., Kay, E. R. & Leigh, D. A. Beyond switches: ratcheting a particle energetically uphill with a compartmentalized molecular machine. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 128, 4058–4073 (2006).
Boekhoven, J., Hendriksen, W. E., Koper, G. J. M., Eelkema, R. & van Esch, J. H. Transient assembly of active materials fueled by a chemical reaction. Science 349, 1075–1079 (2015).
Bruns, C. J. Moving forward in the semantic soup of artificial molecular machine taxonomy. Nat. Nanotechnol. 17, 1231–1234 (2022).
