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How can molecular motion be transformed into function? Molecular machines offer unique opportunities to control motion at the molecular scale, yet achieving the complexity and functionality of natural systems remains challenging.[1] This lecture will present our approach to designing molecular machines that convert controlled mechanical motion into function.
First, switchable molecular tweezers will be presented as versatile platforms for controlling luminescence, magnetism, catalysis, and even sol-gel transitions.[2 ] Our work on cyclodextrin-based rotaxanes will also be highlighted, exploiting the cone-shaped structure and selective functionalization of cyclodextrins to achieve unidirectional, active motion through an information-ratchet mechanism.[3]

[1] S. Erbas-Cakmak, D. A. Leigh, C. T. McTernan, A. L. Nussbaumer, Chem. Rev., 2015, 115, 10081-10206.
[2] a) B. Doistau, A. Tron, S. A. Denisov, G. Jonusauskas, N. D. McClenaghan, G. Gontard, V. Marvaud, B. Hasenknopf, G. Vives, Chem. Eur. J., 2014, 20, 15799; b) B. Doistau, J.-L. Cantin, L.-M. Chamoreau, V. Marvaud, B. Hasenknopf, G. Vives, Chem. Commun., 2015, 51, 12916; c) L. Benda, B. Doistau, C. Rossi-Gendron, L.-M. Chamoreau, B. Hasenknopf, G. Vives, Commun. Chem., 2019, 2, 144; d) B. Doistau, L. Benda, J. -L.-M. Chamoreau, E. Ruiz, V. Marvaud, B. Hasenknopf, G. Vives, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2017, 139, 9213-9220; e) P. Msellem, G. Groslambert, L. Miton, M. Pomes-Hadda, N. J. Van Zee, C. Guibert, G. Vives, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2025, 147, 5360.
[3] a) E.Liu, S. Cherraben, L. Boulo, C. Troufflard, B. Hasenknopf, G. Vives, M. Sollogoub, Chem, 2023, 9, 1147-1163; b) E. Liu, D. Daou, B. Hasenknopf, G. Vives, M. Sollogoub, Chem, 2025, 11, 102623.

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Prof. Guillaume Vives is an associate Professor at Sorbonne University, Paris. After graduating from the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, he obtained his Ph.D. in 2007 from the University of Toulouse, where he worked on single-molecule rotary molecular motors under the supervision of Gwenael Rapenne and Jean-Pierre Launay. He then joined Rice University as a postdoctoral fellow with James M. Tour, working on functionalized nanovehicles, followed by a second postdoctoral position in Bordeaux with Nathan McClenaghan. Since joining Sorbonne University in 2010, he has been working in supramolecular chemistry and was awarded his Habilitation in 2016. His current research focuses on developing molecular machines based on switchable molecular tweezers and cyclodextrin-based rotaxanes.

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