Remarkable positional discrimination in bistable light- and heat-switchable hydrogen-bonded molecular shuttles

A tale of two stations: Molecular shuttles, in which a macrocyclic unit can move between two stations over a relatively large distance (1.5 nm), exhibit bistability that can be induced using either light or heat as stimuli, and exhibit large required variations in ΔG between the two stations (see diagram). This is achieved with remarkable positional integrity, which originates from the self-binding of non-fumaramide stations.