Tilting at wingmills? The second law survives

Angewandte Chemie - International Edition

Volumn 37, Issue 7, 1998, Pages 909-910

  Davis, Anthony P ^a  

^a TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN   (Ireland)

Author keywords

Molecular devices; Molecular modeling; NMR spectroscopy; Thermodynamics; Triptycenes

Indexed keywords

EID: 0031960633     PISSN: 14337851     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1521-3773(19980420)37:7<909::AID-ANIE909>3.0.CO;2-X     Document Type: Review

References (8)

1. For alternative (and more authoritative) perspectives on the Second Law, see: P. W. Atkins, The Second Law: Energy, Chaos and Form, W. H. Freeman, New York, 1994, and references therein.
2. T. R. Kelly, I. Tellitu, J. P. Sestelo, Angew. Chem. 1997, 109, 1969, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1997, 36, 1866.
3. T. R. Kelly, I. Tellitu, J. P. Sestelo, Angew. Chem. 1997, 109, 1969, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1997, 36, 1866.
4. T. R. Kelly, M. C. Bowyer, K. V. Bhaskar, D. Bebbington, A. Garcia, F. Lang, M. H. Kim, M. P. Jette, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1994, 116, 3657.
5. For a theoretical analysis of a related mechanism, see: R. P. Feynman, R. B. Leighton, M. Sands, The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol. 1, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, USA, 1963, chap. 46.
6. C. H. Bennett, Sci. Am. 1987, 257(5), 88.
7. F. W. Dahlquist, K. J. Longmur, R. B. Du Vernet, J. Magn. Reson. 1975, 77, 406.
8. [4] points out that motions at the molecular level are perfectly elastic, and that, at thermal equilibrium, the pawl is in constant motion. When it lifts, rotations can occur in either direction with equal probability.