Abstract
CHALLENGING THOSE WHO think molecular motor makers are just spinning their wheels, chemists in the Netherlands have created a rotary motor catalyst capable of dynamically controlling the chiral space in a catalytic asymmetric addition reaction ( Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1199844). The motor molecule can make a racemate, R enantiomer, or S enantiomer on demand, depending upon where it is in its rotary cycle. “As far as we know the system is unique,” says Ben L. Feringa, the University of Groningen chemistry professor who created the motor with coworker Jiaobing Wang. Previous examples of chiral catalysts with this kind of switching ability rely on solvent changes, temperature variation, or addition of a Lewis acid, Feringa says, and their catalytic behavior is usually difficult to predict. This molecular motor catalyst, he continues, allows his team to control the stereoselectivity of the reaction through noninvasive external signals—light and heat. “Molecular motors provide us with a great starting po...
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