Physics

Meteorology

Nanotechnology

Organic chemistry

Metal-organic framework

Nanoscopic scale

Adsorption

Artificial intelligence

Molecular motor

Chemistry

Materials science

Thermal

Computer science

Rotation around a fixed axis

Rotation (mathematics)

Classical mechanics

Nature Nanotechnology

Overcrowded alkene-based light-driven molecular motors are able to perform large-amplitude repetitive unidirectional rotations. Their behaviour is well understood in solution. However, Brownian motion precludes the precise positioning at the nanoscale needed to harness cooperative action. Here, we demonstrate molecular motors organized in crystalline metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). The motor unit becomes a part of the organic linker (or strut), and its spatial arrangement is elucidated through powder and single-crystal X-ray analyses and polarized optical and Raman microscopies. We confirm that the light-driven unidirectional rotation of the motor units is retained in the MOF framework and that the motors can operate in the solid state with similar rotary speed (rate of thermal helix inversion) to that in solution. These ‘moto-MOFs’ could in the future be used to control dynamic function in crystalline materials. Overcrowded alkene-based motors are made part of the crystalline structure of a metal–organic framework. It is shown that they retain the same rotatory speed and unidirectionality as in solution.

Unidirectional rotary motion in a metal–organic framework