Mechanism of plasmon-driven molecular jackhammers in mechanical opening and disassembly of membranes

Abstract

Plasmon-driven molecular jackhammers (MJHs) are a type of molecular machine that converts photon energy into mechanical energy. Upon insertion into lipid bilayers followed by near-infrared light activation, plasmon-driven MJH mechanically open cellular membranes through a process that is not inhibited by reactive oxygen species (ROS) inhibitors and does not induce thermal heating. The molecular mechanism by which the plasmon-driven MJH open and disassemble cellular membranes has not hitherto been established. Herein, we differentiate the mechanical mechanism in MJHs from the ROS-mediated chemical effects in photodynamic therapy or thermal effects in photothermal therapy. We further present a detailed molecular mechanism for the plasmon-driven MJH disassembly of lipid bilayers. The mechanical studies on plasmon-driven MJH disassembly processes on artificial lipid bilayers were done using ROS-unreactive saturated phytanoyl phospholipids. We were able to capture in real-time the lipid bilayer disassembly by MJHs using fluorescence confocal microscopy on saturated phospholipids in giant unilamellar vesicles.

Graphical abstract: Mechanism of plasmon-driven molecular jackhammers in mechanical opening and disassembly of membranes

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Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
29 Jul 2024
Accepted
08 Jun 2025
First published
12 Jun 2025
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Mechanochem., 2025, Advance Article

Mechanism of plasmon-driven molecular jackhammers in mechanical opening and disassembly of membranes

C. Ayala-Orozco, V. Vardanyan, K. Lopez-Jaime, Z. Wang, J. M. Seminario, A. B. Kolomeisky and J. M. Tour, RSC Mechanochem., 2025, Advance Article , DOI: 10.1039/D4MR00083H

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