Abiotic chemical fuels for the operation of molecular machines

Natural molecular machines require a continuous fuel supply to perform motions and/or remain in a functional state. Consequently, the aim of developing artificial devices and materials with life-type properties has motivated a growing interest in abiotic chemical fuels and in their supply modalities. Many artificial molecular machines have been developed in which the sequential addition of several chemical reagents allows the machine to perform complete cycles of motion. Only recently, examples of molecular machines whose cycles of motion are triggered by a single pulse of fuel have been reported. The latter systems are the object of this Minireview where the abiotic chemical fuels used so far to trigger the complete cycles of motion of molecular machines are described, with particular emphasis on the operation mechanism of the machine/fuel systems. © 2020 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim