Observation of gear rotation in a bath of chemical reactions

We have been testing the hypothesis that if chemical reactions in liquid can perform as active matter, then from this premise it should be possible to extract mechanical work. Here, using microscopy imaging, the preferential rotation of a micrometer-sized asymmetric gear in a classical homogenous CuAAC reaction was observed. Averaging the findings from large datasets, we find that statistic angle trajectories show persistent rotation in a given rotation direction, tracking the reaction kinetics. Independently, we observe weak shear thinning (by viscometry) and extensive non-covalent interactions (by NMR). These correlated observations are discussed.