One of nature’s best strategies for movement at the cellular scale involves powerful molecular motors. Molecular motors are complex molecules that convert chemical energy into mechanical energy to complete tasks such as transporting components within cells, contracting muscle fibers, and breaking DNA strands.
Since 1999, chemists have designed synthetic molecules that rotate 360 degrees in response to light or chemical stimuli. These single-function motors can generate forces on surfaces, move cargo to sensors, and power nanoscale devices. But when they are placed within opaque living tissue, researchers cannot easily control or track them.
According to a study published in , a newly designed molecular motor addresses both of these challenges by switching between rotation and fluorescence when hit with different light wavelengths. scientific progress“There aren’t many compounds that show two different responses to light, and this is the first motor to show this property,” says Maxim, a spectroscopist at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and co-author of the new study. Pshenichnikov says.
Under the guidance of Ben Feringa, an organic chemist from Groningen and 2016 Nobel laureate, Pschenichnikov and his colleagues, by coupling a chemical called triphenylamine to a fundamental molecular motor , created a bifunctional molecule. This allows the motor to react to different light energies in different ways. Low-energy light gave enough power to spin the motor, but high-energy light over-excited the motor, emitting photons to dispose of excess energy. That is, it fluoresces. Furthermore, unlike typical molecular motors driven by tissue-damaging ultraviolet light, this new compound responded to infrared tinges that could penetrate deep under the skin without damaging it.
Such motors can be useful in applications that require precise localization. For example, fluorescent motors interact with various cellular structures and glow to track drugs as they are delivered and activated. “It would be great if we could actually track the movement of the motors in the cell and use that for mechanical interference. [drug] Delivery and detection? says Feringa.
Salma Kassem, a chemist at the City University of New York who was not involved in the study, says the design is an important step toward light-driven pharmacology. Two properties that interfere with each other. The work achieves division of labor in a simple and elegant way. ”
The researchers plan to apply this technique to motors with biological functions, such as binding to specific cell receptors. Then test its performance on living cells or tissues. Lukas Pfeifer, an organic chemist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and lead author of the study, said the success of the technique “has raised hopes that it can be easily transplanted to motors made of different compounds.” I can have it,” he said.
