One of the major challenges for harnessing the true potential of functional nano-machinery is integrating and transmitting motion with great precision. Molecular gearing systems enable the integration of multiple motions in a correlated fashion to translate motions from one locality to another and to change their speed and direction. However, currently no powerful methods exist to implement active driving of gearing motions at the molecular scale. Here we present a light-fuelled molecular gearing system and demonstrate its superiority over passive thermally activated gearing. Translation of a 180° rotation into a 120° rotation is achieved while at the same time the direction of the rotation axis is shifted by 120°. Within such photogearing processes, precise motions at the nanoscale can be changed in direction and decelerated in a manner similar to macroscopic bevel-gear operations in an energy consuming way—a necessary prerequisite to employ gearing as an active component in future mechanical nano-systems.

发挥功能性纳米机械的真正潜力的主要挑战之一是高精度地集成和传输运动。分子齿轮系统能够以相关的方式整合多个运动，以将运动从一个位置转换到另一个位置，并改变它们的速度和方向。然而，目前不存在在分子尺度上实现主动驱动齿轮运动的有效方法。在这里，我们展示了一种光燃料分子齿轮系统，并展示了它相对于被动热激活齿轮的优越性。实现了 180° 旋转到 120° 旋转的平移，同时旋转轴的方向偏移了 120°。在这样的摄影过程中，