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Updated: Jun 11, 2026

Light-driven Molecular Motors on Surfaces for Single Molecular Imaging
Published on: March 13, 2019
Rotary molecular motors: a large increase in speed through a small change in design
Tatiana Fernández Landaluce1, Gábor London, Michael M Pollard
1Centre for Systems Chemistry, Stratingh Institute for Chemistry, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
Reducing the steric interaction between the upper-half and the lower-half of a light-driven rotary molecular motor by decreasing the size of the aromatic moiety in the upper-half from a naphthalene to a benzothiophene results in an almost 3500 times faster rotation.
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