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Updated: Feb 19, 2026

Light-driven Molecular Motors on Surfaces for Single Molecular Imaging
Published on: March 13, 2019
Guest control of a hydrogen bond-catalysed molecular rotor
Gregory T Rushton1, Erik C Vik, William G Burns
1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA. shimizu@mail.chem.sc.edu.
Abstract:
Herein, the control of a molecular rotor using hydrogen bonding guests is demonstrated. With a properly positioned phenol substituent, the N-arylimide rotors can form an intramolecular hydrogen bond that catalyses the rotational isomerization process. The addition of the guests disrupts the hydrogen bond and raises the rotational barrier, slowing the rotation by two orders of magnitude.
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