Complete Unidirectionality in a Chemically Activated Motor

Abstract

Chemically activated molecular motors that can undergo a full 360° rotation are rare. Designing such an artificial motor while preserving full directional fidelity is even more challenging. In this issue of Chem, Feringa and co-workers demonstrate that this feat can be accomplished through careful molecular design that takes advantage of point and helical chirality, combined with the dynamic nature of lactones, to induce directional motion around a biaryl C–C bond.