Molecular Devices (Jiří Kaleta)

Our research is focused on design, synthesis and study of advanced molecular-level devices and their complex 2- or/and 3-dimensional assemblies. Organization of individual molecules into regular arrays should amplify their function and lead thus to the new types of smart materials with potential application in nanoelectronics or as novel propulsion systems. This strongly interdisciplinary topic comprises organic chemistry (multistep synthesis of complex molecular machines is a crucial pillar of our research) with physical, material, surface and theoretical chemistry. Most of our molecular devices consist of several characteristic building blocks: (i) an anchoring group that holds them on various surfaces, (ii) a bulky unit that helps them to organize into 2D or 3D structure, and (iii) various molecular switches (triggered either by light, heat or redox reaction) or light-driven molecular motors that act as functional heart of each machine.

An example of the regular array of light-driven molecular motors
(Kaleta et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 10486-10498).