Mimicking the motion of life: Catalytically active rotaxanes as processive enzyme mimics

Abstract

An often overlooked but essential architectural motif found in all living organisms is that of the toroid. Through evolution, nature has used the threading of biopolymers through toroidal assemblies, forming pseudo-rotaxanes, to impart a processive character on the synthesis, replication, repair, and even recombination of DNA. In spite of the fact that numerous processive enzymes have been reported and that life would not exist without such natural rotaxanes, there are virtually no examples of synthetic processive catalysts let alone biomimetic models of these essential and potentially useful systems. To rectify this omission we describe below our recent construction and study of the first catalytic rotaxane molecular machine, which can run along a polymer thread and carry out processive oxidative reactions.