Synthetic small-molecule walkers at work

The naturally occurring molecular motors have been a source of inspiration for the development of a variety of artificial molecular machines and motors. Synthetic molecular walkers, in which a molecular fragment can walk along tracks, are emerging as a new class of artificial molecular motors. This Minireview presents a brief introduction on synthetic small-molecule walkers and highlights recent significant accomplishments in developing synthetic small-molecule walkers that can perform specific tasks, such as quenching the fluorescence of the system or synthesizing a peptide in a sequence-specific manner.