Lab-Made Motors Could Move and Glow in Cells

One of nature's best strategies for movement at the cellular scale is the use of powerful Molecules that transform chemical energy into mechanical energy to complete tasks.

chemists have been designing synthetic molecule that rotates in response to light or chemicals The single-function motor can generate force on a surface, shuttle cargo to sensors, and power devices. Researchers can't easily track them when they're in opaque tissue.

A study published in Science Advances shows that a new motor can switch between rotation and fluorescence when hit by different light wavelength. The first motor to show this property was found by the co-author of the new study.

The double- function molecule was created by attaching a chemical called triphenylamine to a basic molecule. The motor could respond in different ways. Low-energy light gave the motor just enough power to move, whereas high-energy light caused it to emit more energy than it needed. This new compound was able to penetrate deeper under the skin thanks to the shades of IR that can penetrate under the skin.

This motor could aid applications that need precise locating. A fluorescent motor could be used to track and light up a drug. It would be cool if we could use the motor's motion in cells to deliver drugs. Feringa said so.

A chemist at the City University of New York who was not involved in the study says the design is an important step towards light-driven pharmacology. Roles are separated in a simple and elegant way.

The technology could be applied to a motor with a biological function. They will perform it in live cells or tissues. Lukas Pfeifer, an organic chemist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, says that the technique's success gives him hope that we can transfer it to motor made with different chemical compounds.