The city of Montpellier is located in the south of France, closed to the mediterranean sea and can be reached from Paris in 3h30 by TGV train. Its sweet climate, its cultural and economical dynamisms, as well as its student life make of Montpellier a very attractive place to settle.

► Interview about Nobel Prize of Chemistry 2016
Interview of Frédéric Coutrot in the journal "le monde" about the Nobel Prize awarded to Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Fraser Stoddart and Ben Feringa.
(Le Monde, October the 7th of 2016)

► SMARTeam in l'Usine Nouvelle
Our double-lasso Molecular Machines highlighted in the magazine "Usine Nouvelle". The article written by Thierry Lucas and entitled "Molécules au travail" can be read in, L'Usine Nouvelle, n°3273, 23/02/2012, 52-54.

► SMARTeam in Sciences et Vie !
An interview of Frédéric Coutrot in the magazine "Science et Vie". The article, written by Roman Ikonicoff and entitled «nanomachines» can be read in the September issue of 2012.

The SMARTeam is located in the University of Montpellier (France), in Balard Building of the Cnrs campus. It is part of the institute of Biomolecules Max Mousseron (UMR Cnrs 5247). Our current research projects mainly concern the synthesis and the studies of original molecules, based on supramolecular or interlocked architectures (peptido and glycorotaxanes, lassos, double-lassos, molecular muscles), aimed to be used from the material (polymers) to the medicinal field (recognition, targeting, prodrugs, probes, diagnosis, ...). We are particularly interested in new conceptual approaches using Molecular Machines.

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How to reach the laboratory ?

Address: 

Dr. Frédéric Coutrot
Supramolecular Machines and ARchitectures Team
Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron (IBMM)UMR 5247 Cnrs - Université Montpellier - Pôle Chimie Balard recherche
1919, route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier cedex 5
Tél. 04 48 79 21 46
frederic.coutrot@umontpellier.fr

Frédéric Coutrot

Synthetic molecular machines that actuate through orchestrated motions are extremely rare in the literature. In this article, we describe the synthesis  of a foldarotaxane (i.e. a molecular axle encircled by a macrocycle and entwined with a foldamer helix) molecular shuttle that operates through cascading macrocycle and helix motions.
On the one hand, pH-responsive molecular machinery atuates the shuttling of the macrocycle along the axle, triggering the gliding of the helix around a region of the axle for which it had initially less affinity. On the other hand, higher concentration allows for faster dissociation of the helix from the rotaxane axle, thus giving rise to the translocation of the helix (i.e. inversion of the relative position of the helix with respect to the macrocycle). At this stage, under acidic conditions, helix may play the role of a supramolecular kinetic barrier that compartmentalizes the macrocycle away from its best molecular station occurs.

To read the article: Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2024, e202413977

Coming soon in Angewandte Chemie :

An orchestrated motions-based foldarotaxane molecular machine !