Transition metal catalysts for molecular motors: towards molecular lithography

It is suggested that some transition metal based catalysts can be converted to molecular motors providing that their substrate is grafted onto a surface as a self-assembled monolayer. This approach may open new possibilities, such as the control of molecular motion and chemical reactivity at a sub-nanometre scale under the influence of macroscopic controls such as electric fields, liquid crystal phases or light beams. Such a control may ultimately lead to molecular lithography. First experimental results towards that goal are described in the last part of the paper