The Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Molecular Machines, Explained - Speaking of Chemistry

Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir Frazer Stoddart and Ben Feringhot got science's sweetest Swedish phone call this morning when they won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing synthetic molecular machines. What's a molecular machine? Well, I'm glad you asked. So here's the deal. You may remember this video we made about nanorobots not too long ago. Scientists are developing these little guys to swim around your stomach and bloodstream to do things like deliver therapeutics or attack cancer cells. These aren't what won, but the machines that did claim the Nobel Prize work at an even smaller, more fundamental level. These super-teensy molecule-sized machines could help improve future nanorobots and could also be useful in furthering computers, smart materials and energy storage devices. Let's start with a bit of background. Molecules dance around in all sorts of goofy ways, using energy from the environment to wriggle, writhe and rotate, but it's all very uncoordinated, very avant-garde. Jean-Pierre, Sir Fraser and Ben stepped in and designed molecules that they could choreograph. They became the dance commanders for individual molecules. Their story starts back in 1983. That's when Sally Ride went to space, Michael Jackson moonwalked, and Jean-Pierre created a ketanane, two ring-shaped molecules linked together in a ridiculously small chain. Adores. The two links are trapped inside one another, but they're free to rotate around each other. Thus, Jean-Pierre and his colleagues designed a molecule with moving parts that moved in a constrained or controlled way. That control was the consequence of the chemical design of the molecule. The field of molecular machining was born. Fast forward to 1991, when Sir Fraser's team invented a new kind of rotaxane, which is a type of molecular wheel and axle. In rotaxane, a ring-shaped molecule loops around a dumbbell-shaped axle. In Fraser's rotaxane, the ring molecule slides along the dumbbell, bringing a new kind of motion to molecular machines. This opened the door to a wider variety of machines for chemists to cook up. Ben claimed his share of this year's Nobel Prize for stepping up our ability to control molecular machines in a big way. He and his team developed a motor which consists of a molecular rotor that spins in just one direction when powered by heat and light. Unfortunately, it does not have a snappy name like a ketanane or a rotaxane. Here's what they called their molecule. But thanks to these three chemists, we have a laundry list of super rad-sounding molecular machines. Molecular stir bars, ratchets, elevators, muscles, even molecular cars. Go little molecular car, go! But let's be clear. This is a prize for the fundamental science that makes molecular machines possible. We haven't seen any real-world applications yet. During C&EN's Nobel Prize Predictions webinar last week, Stu Cantrell summed it up beautifully. The case for real-world applications of these molecules is hard to make, but they're just so clever-slash-cool, and it's incredible what you can force a molecule to actually do. Shout out to Stu, who got his Ph.D. working with Fraser. Anyhow, newly-minted Nobel laureate Ben Peringa called into the Nobel Prize announcement ceremony this morning and said he feels a bit like the Wright Brothers right now. Back in 1903, people didn't know what to do with Orville and Wilbur Wright's wacky flying machine. But now we've got 747s soaring all over the darn place. Similarly, engineered molecular machines could really take off as chemists find new ways to use them. What do you think about this year's Nobel Prize? Tell us in the comments section below and let us know if you've got a favorite molecular machine. And be sure to check out the description for a link to Bethany Halford's fantastic story that dives even deeper into this year's award. You'll also find all the references for this video there. Thanks for watching. I'm gonna finish my breakfast now.