Inspired by nature’s fascinating molecular machinery, current research is developing functional parts for future human-made molecular machines. A quintessential molecular rotor is nature’s ATPase which harnesses cellular energy in the form of ATP to drive rotational motion and convert it to work necessary for cellular metabolism. The challenge lies in emulating nature. A good starting point is identifying molecular systems with low barriers to rotation. A new class of low-barrier molecular rotors, metal trans-dihydrides, is suggested here. A known complex, trans-H2Pt(PtBu3)2, was experimentally studied using solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (SSNMR) and computationally modelled: We found this complex to exhibit rapid rotation (vex &gt; 107 Hz), even at 120K; the highest barrier to rotation was estimated to be ~3 kcal mol-1 (experimentally) and ~4.9 kcal mol-1 (DFT). Moreover, this synthetic molecular rotor does not stop spinning until ~30K. We expect this new class of rotors will help expand the field of the world’s smallest machines.

Low-Barrier “H-M-H” molecular rotor

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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