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Updated: Mar 8, 2026

Light-driven Molecular Motors on Surfaces for Single Molecular Imaging
Published on: March 13, 2019
Application of semiempirical electronic structure theory to compute the force generated by a single surface-mounted
Karl Sohlberg1, Gloria Bazargan2, Joseph P Angelo1,3
1Department of Chemistry, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
Abstract:
Herein we report a study of the switchable [3]rotaxane reported by Huang et al. (Appl Phys Lett 85(22):5391-5393, 1) that can be mounted to a surface to form a nanomechanical, linear, molecular motor. We demonstrate the application of semiempirical electronic structure theory to predict the average and instantaneous force generated by redox-induced ring shuttling. Detailed analysis of the geometric and electronic structure of the system reveals technical considerations essential to success of the approach. The force is found to be in the 100-200 pN range, consistent with published experimental estimates. Graphical Abstract A single surface-mounted switchable rotaxane.
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