Coordination-directed self-assembly of molecular motor: towards a two-wheel drive nanocar
writer：Menglian Li, Shaorui Li, Kexin Zhang, Xin Chi, Hang Zhou, Hai-Bing Xu*, Yuexing Zhang, Quan Li*
keywords：nanocar; molecular motor
source：期刊
specific source：Nanoscale. 2021, DOI: 10.1039/D1NR05046J
Issue time：2021年
Designing and constructing hierarchical and stimuli-responsive motorized nanocar system to perform useful tasks on-demand is highly imperative towards molecular nanotechnology. In this work, a most simplified two-wheel nanocar was successfully prepared through a facile strategy of coordination-directed self-assembly. The nanocar meso-AgL2 features a central pseudo square-planar Ag(I) which was bridged by two enantiomeric motors as the wheels that assure the car move in the same direction when observed externally. Thanks to the electronic push-pull character of L and 3ILCT triplet sensitization, this nanocar can be driven by visible light up to 500 nm. Furthermore, it could be disassembled into individual motor element through the addition of pyridine, thus allowing the dynamic regulation over the function of the nanocar. Importantly, our STM imaging results showed very organized tilted layered structures for meso-AgL2 on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) that are quite similar to its crystalline ones, paving the way for future single molecule manipulations. The nanocar reported here represents the first example of integrating individual motors into a hierarchical motorized nanocar system via facile coordination-directed self-assembly method and may offer a good start point to realize its robotic functions, e.g., metal transportation and release.