Molecules of the year 2024

Our readers voted online for mirror-image cyclodextrin as their 2024 molecule of the year. See the full voting breakdown at cenm.ag/moty2024 Molecular shuttle in a box This molecular machine thinks inside the box —literally. The long sides are polyaromatic molecules with iridium complexes on either end, and the short sides are pyrazine molecules ( Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2024, DOI: 10.1002 /anie.202318829 ). A guest molecule—coronene—fits inside, held within the outer box by π-electron interactions as the flat molecule zips from end to end . This type of shuttle could be used as the basis for future molecular switches. Mirror-image cyclodextrin Chemists created three different-size cyclodextrins using l -glucose, whose molecular geometry is the mirror image of that of naturally occurring d -glucose ( Nat. Synth. 2024, DOI: 10.1038/s44160-024-00495-8 ). The switched-around stereochemistry of these l -cyclodextrins could come in handy for several applications, such as drug delivery and enantioselective