Brownian Motors: Swimming in molasses and walking in a hurricane

R. Dean Astumian, Department of Physics, University of Maine

Protein motors—perfected over the course of millions of years of evolution—play an essential role in moving and assembling biological structures. Recently chemists have been able to synthesize molecules that emulate in part the remarkable capabilities of these bio-molecular motors. Like their biological counterparts, these synthetic machines function in an environment where viscous forces dominate inertia—they must "swim in molasses." Further, the power exchanged reversibly between the motor and its environment is many orders of magnitude greater than the power provided by the chemical fuel to drive directed motion. One might think that moving in a specific direction would be a difficult as walking in a hurricane. Yet these motors move and accomplish their function with almost deterministic precision. In this review we will investigate the design principles established for biomolecular motors using single molecule techniques, and how these principles are being used to design artificial and synthetic motors.

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