1. Catenanes, rotaxanes and pseudorotaxanes are supramolecular
systems suitably designed to perform mechanical movements upon
photochemical, electrochemical, and chemical stimulations. 2.
Suitably designed dendrimers and other multicomponent systems
containing luminescent and/or electro-active moieties
can perform the function of antennae for light harvesting
or process light signals in a complex way. 3. Suitably
designed chemical systems are capable of performing logics
operations (NOT, OR, AND, XOR) mimicking at molecular level the
functions performed by logic gates.
Her present reasearch activity is dedicated to the design,
construction, and characterization of molecular-level devices and
machines in the frame of the bottom-up approach to nanotechnology.
An innovative aspect of this research is the idea that the concept
of macroscopic device and machine can be extended to the molecular
level, and that it is possible to design multicomponent systems
capable of performing specific functions upon stimulation with
external energy inputs. Up to now the studies in this research
field succeeded in constructing (i) a number of systems for
information processing such as wires, switches, antennas,
batteries, logic gates, and (ii) a variety of systems that,
powered by chemical energy, electrochemical energy, or light,
exhibit machine-like behaviour such as piston-cylinder systems,
shuttles, and rotary rings. Very recently a light powered nanomotor
has been obtained which has been highlighted on several scientific
journals. To investigate these systems a variety of techniques can
be employed such as absorption and emission (steady-state and time
resolved) spectroscopy, stopped-flow methods and electrochemical
(cyclic voltammetry and spectroelectrochemistry) techniques.
