Significance: This review relates to artificial redox-driven molecular devices. The advantages of using very simple chemical building blocks for the bottom-up design of nanoleveled functional motors and the importance of the unidirectionality of a switching process for the development of redox-driven molecular motors are discussed. Furthermore, the crucial difference between artificial molecular switches and motors is explained. Recent Advances: This review discusses few selected examples of redox-driven devices exhibiting partially complex-coupled movement sequences, which, however, due to the lack of an overall directionally controlled movement are not able to perform mechanical work on a molecular scale. Recent examples for redox-driven devices with at least one directionally controlled switching process as well as the proof for the unidirectionality of the switching process are presented. Critical Issues: The challenge in designing directionally controlled switches is the fact that during the switching process, a configuration (or conformation) must be changed reversibly. This crucial process can be a flip caused by the change of the coordination sphere of a metal ion, a rotation around a C–C single bond, or around a C–C double bond. Future Directions: For future developments, we suggest designing artificial redox-based molecular motors in which the motion process of the presented directionally controlled switches are coupled with another switchable unit. The latter could also be switchable in a nondirected way. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 19, 1783–1791.
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