Active Transport of Macrocycles into Micelles Using Molecular Pumps
During the past decade, researchers have designed and synthesised a variety of artificial molecular pumps capable of the active transport of macrocycles (rings) from free solution into mechanically interlocked states. In their ability to drive non-equilibrium transport, these artificial molecular pumps imitate natural transmembrane transporters, which are widespread in living organisms. Despite this resemblance, ring-threading molecular pumps have not previously been operated in aqueous supramolecular assemblies in imitation of their natural counterparts. Here, we demonstrate the active transport of charged macrocycles from aqueous solution into micellar assemblies of polymer chains, which remain stable after pumping has occurred. While micelles are used routinely to encapsulate and solubilise hydrophobic small molecules in aqueous solution, this report, by contrast, shows that artificial molecular pumps can harness external energy to drive hydrophilic molecules into micelles where they are stored at concentrations far from equilibrium.
Authors
- Yunyan Qiu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9279-4714)
- Christopher K. Lee
- Shahram Shafie
- James S. W. Seale (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8086-6020)
- J. Fraser Stoddart (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3161-3697)
- Swagat Sharma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4829-594X)
- Evan A. Scott (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8945-2892)
- Madison I. Bardot (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8655-6947)
- Raymond Dean Astumian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7472-187X)
- Tyler Jaynes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6084-1870)
- William R. Dichtel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3635-6119)
- Eric W. Roth (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8295-9834)
- Samuel Isaac Stupp (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5491-7442)
- Luke Malaisrie
- Han Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2058-4555)
- Dong Jun Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5930-1364)
- Long Zhang
- Yi‐Kang Xing
Institutions
- Northwestern University (US)
- National University of Singapore (SG)
- Zhejiang University of Science and Technology (CN)
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- University of Virginia (US)
- Zhejiang University (CN)
- University of Maine (US)
- University of Hong Kong (HK)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
- Published
- 2025-09-23
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202512899
- Primary Topic
- Supramolecular Chemistry and Complexes
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Northwestern University
- National Institutes of Health
- Office of Science
- Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, Harvard University
- International Institute for Nanotechnology, Northwestern University
- Division of Materials Research
- Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems
- Basic Energy Sciences