Supramolecular Integration of Artificial Molecular Motors in Active Systems : Morphing, Adaptation, Propulsion

Biomolecular motors are fundamental elements in the emergence of dynamic, self-sustaining, and evolving properties that characterize living systems. When fuelled by an external source of energy, they can perform and convert mechanical work into key functions such as catalysis, regulation, transport, actuation, and locomotion. This transduction of energy happens between hierarchical levels of self-organization, which maintain living systems out of thermodynamic equilibrium and link the unidirectional motion produced by the motors with various emerging functions in a remarkably efficient way. Therefore, one could expect that the implementation of artificial molecular motors in fully synthetic (supra)molecular systems may confer them with some “active” functional properties, in striking contrast with the majority of today’s rather “passive” materials which are engineered and used in (meta)stable states. However, artificial molecular machines have been mainly studied so far as molecular switches, which simply influence their surrounding as a function of their isomerization states (typically A vs B). The objective of the SPRING project is to unambiguously show that the unidirectional motion of artificial molecular motors can be usefully implemented in supramolecular and macromolecular systems and materials, in order to drive them energetically uphill and to subsequently produce non-trivial functions requiring dissipative out-of-equilibrium conditions such as: active morphing, active adaptation, and active propulsion. This will be achieved through advanced synthetic chemistry and a fundamental in-depth understanding of the (supra)molecular and macromolecular systems developed at all scales. If successful, the SPRING project will establish innovative concepts to elaborate (i) active (supra)molecular systems, (ii) new synthetic objects to study some fundamentals of complex matter, and (iii) new technologies to envision applications of molecular machines in the real world.