The molecular switches by themselves are useless, the wires by themselves are useless, but the architecture is important. To make a molecular computer, the first critical step is to take a set of wires arranged in one direction, a layer of molecular switches, and a second set of wires aligned in the opposite direction. The chemists electronically configured these wires and switches to fabricate logic gates. They showed they could link molecular switches and wires together and reconfigure the logic circuit as needed. The rotaxanes, which Stoddart provided, worked better as switches than Heath had expected, and allowed Heath's team to configure wire-switch networks into highly effective logic gates.
Many severe challenges remain, but Heath is guardedly optimistic.
When you make a computer using silicon-based fabrication methods, you make something that looks complicated and is perfect. Anything you make chemically is not complicated and inevitably has defects. However, we can take a set of wires and switches with defective components, find the defects and route around them. In the lab, we can make pretty good components already. We'll get a lot better.