The 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to three scientists (Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart, and Bernard L. Feringa) for the design and synthesis of molecular machines. The field of molecular machines focuses on constructing the machine at the molecular level, and supramolecular chemistry plays an important role in this research area. Therefore, to some degree, it is the second time that the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the scientists working on supramolecular chemistry after 1987. In this paper, a summary on the design concept, synthesis strategy, development and outlook of molecular machines is given.

2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry  /  supramolecular chemistry  /  molecular machines