Development of Synthetic Strategies to Access Optically Pure ­Feringa’s Motors

Abstract

AbstractLight-driven unidirectional molecular motors have gained significant attention since the pioneering work by Prof. Ben Feringa in 1999, and they hold great promise as next-generation smart materials. The intrinsic feature of point chirality and the helicity of these molecular motors requires efficient strategies to access their optically pure forms, especially when chirality-sensitive materials are fabricated. In this short review, we summarize synthetic strategies to access optically pure first- and second-generation molecular motors. Three general strategies are discussed: direct asymmetric synthesis, chiral auxiliary methods and chiral separation aided by a resolving agent. We hope that this review will ignite the enthusiasm of synthetic chemists to address very fundamental but unavoidable synthetic questions on chiral-alkene-based molecular motors concerning their large-scale appli­cations.1 Introduction2 Synthesis of First-Generation Molecular Motors2.1 Direct Asymmetric Synthesis of Molecular Motors2.2 Resolving-Agent-Aided Chiral Resolution of Molecular Motors3 Synthesis of Second-Generation Molecular Motors3.1 Direct Asymmetric Synthesis of Molecular Motors3.2 Chiral Auxiliary Strategy3.3 Domino Strategy4 onclusions