The concept of molecular motors was first introduced by Dr.

Richard Feynman in his famous

talk There is Plenty of Room at Bottom on 29th December 1959 at the annual meeting of
American Physics Society at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech.).

Molecular motors can be broadly divides into two categories biological motors and synthetic
(man-made) motors. Biological molecular motors are present in living organisms are essential
agent of transport mechanisms. Some of the examples of such natural motors are myosin, which
move on actin filaments, and dyneins and kinesins, which use microtubules as tracks. The
mechanism they use to convert chemical energy into mechanical work is both simple and
ingenious. In all three motor classes, ATP hydrolysis causes a small conformational change in a
globular motor domain that is amplified and translated into movement with the aid of accessory
structural motifs. Step size of kinesin motors is 8nm.

Synthetic molecular motors are designed to perform movements under external energy inputs
which can be a chemical or light. Development and design of such complex motors includes a
number of building blocks and their relative motion. By controlling the motion of motors from
external fluctuations it can be used for a predefined function.

Synthetic motors are analogous to biological motors and the basic principle of development is
based upon their natural counterparts. For example we can synthesize chemical entities which
undergo bond rotation in response to reaction with another chemical entity or in response to light
or change in pH. To synthesize such motors we have to study and work on the interactions at
molecular level.