Light-responsive rotaxane-based materials: inducing motion in the solid state

• Adrian Saura-Sanmartin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 873–880, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.64

• mechanical bond, such as control over the dynamics of the components upon application of external stimuli. This perspective aims to highlight the relevance of these materials, by pointing out recent examples of photoresponsive materials prepared from a rotaxanated architecture in which motion of the

• -responsive materials; mechanical bond; mechanically interlocked materials; rotaxanes; Introduction Light turns out to be a suitable and tailorable stimulus in order to develop materials showing improved functionalities, such as those of smart materials [1][2][3][4][5]. The characteristics of light which

• photodegradation of intertwined gels could lead to advanced functional materials avoiding the UV phototoxicity for biocompatible implementations, such as protein patterning and tissue engineering. Light-responsive metal-organic rotaxane frameworks The integration of the mechanical bond into metal-organic

BINOL as a chiral element in mechanically interlocked molecules

• Matthias Krajnc and
• Jochen Niemeyer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 508–523, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.53

• mechanical bond, namely from a BINOL-based macrocycle onto the axle. First, they developed [2]rotaxane 27 [52]. Here, the methacrylate-functionalized ammonium salt 25 and the bis-BINOL macrocycle (R,R)-26 give the pseudorotaxane (R,R)-27 through self-assembly. Stoppering of the pseudorotaxane was achieved by

• described in chapter 1, the mechanical bond allows a chirality transfer from a chiral, BINOL-based macrocycle to an achiral thread. Thus, it is conceivable that placing a catalytically active group onto the thread would allow for asymmetric catalysis based on chirality transfer from a BINOL macrocycle. In

• the (1R,2S)-product 45 in high yields and enantioselectivities (78/92/98% ee at +25/−40/−80 °C, respectively). In comparison, a non-interlocked mixture of model catalyst 43 and macrocycle (R)-12 only gave 8% ee at 25 °C, demonstrating the role of the mechanical bond for the chirality transfer (see

Thermodynamic and electrochemical study of tailor-made crown ethers for redox-switchable (pseudo)rotaxanes

• Henrik Hupatz,
• Marius Gaedke,
• Hendrik V. Schröder,
• Julia Beerhues,
• Arto Valkonen,
• Fabian Klautzsch,
• Sebastian Müller,
• Felix Witte,
• Kari Rissanen,
• Biprajit Sarkar and
• Christoph A. Schalley

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2576–2588, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.209

• differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and compared to those of their corresponding pseudo[2]rotaxanes. Additionally, we report the synthesis of a novel NDI-[2]rotaxane and study the impact of the mechanical bond on the optoelectronic properties of the NDI unit by CV and spectroelectrochemical measurements

Five-component, one-pot synthesis of an electroactive rotaxane comprising a bisferrocene macrocycle

• Natalie Lagesse,
• Luca Pisciottani,
• Maxime Douarre,
• Pascale Godard,
• Brice Kauffmann,
• Vicente Martí-Centelles and
• Nathan D. McClenaghan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1564–1571, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.128

•  5). Additional proof of the mechanical bond was provided by 1H DOSY NMR showing the same diffusion for thread and macrocycle signals with a diffusion coefficient of −9.33 m2/s and a hydrodynamic radius of 8.7 Å (see Figure S4 in Supporting Information File 1). Electrochemistry The ferrocene

1,2,3-Triazolium macrocycles in supramolecular chemistry

• Mastaneh Safarnejad Shad,
• Pulikkal Veettil Santhini and
• Wim Dehaen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2142–2155, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.211

• -catalyzed RCM clipping mechanical bond forming methodology [48]. The 1H NMR spectroscopy in CDCl3 (293 K, 500 MHz) and the fluorescence titration experiments which were done in acetonitrile have demonstrated that the synthesized 1,2,3-triazolium macrocycle 6 was able to bind and sense several anions but the

Synthesis of a [6]rotaxane with singly threaded γ-cyclodextrins as a single stereoisomer

• Jason Yin Hei Man and
• Ho Yu Au-Yeung

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 1829–1837, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.177

• bond formation, interlocking of the macrocycle is ensured to result in a good efficiency of mechanical bond formation. The synthesis of 1 and 2 is depicted in Scheme 1. To synthesize hetero[n]rotaxanes containing both γ-CD and CB[6], a 1:1 mixture of the anthracene stopper 2 and CB[6] in 50 mM HCl was

Tetrathiafulvalene – a redox-switchable building block to control motion in mechanically interlocked molecules

• Hendrik V. Schröder and
• Christoph A. Schalley

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 2163–2185, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.190

• molecules, the mechanical bond provides cohesive supramolecular assemblies with unique properties and a high flexibility and mobility of the subcomponents in a small molecular space. To control molecular motion, one of the most important construction principles to transform a simple MIM into an AMM is to

• to rotaxanes is that the axle does not have bulky stopper groups that prevent the deslipping of the wheel. Thus, a pseudorotaxane forms by non-covalent interactions between host and guest without a mechanical bond. Pseudorotaxanes are important precursors of MIMs from which the construction of

• rotaxanes in which the wheel is only held on the axle component by steric hindrance of stopper groups, a catenane is a truly topologically interlocked species bearing a mechanical bond. However, the construction, chemical behavior, and operation of structurally related rotaxanes and catenanes are often very

Efficient catenane synthesis by cucurbit[6]uril-mediated azide–alkyne cycloaddition

• Antony Wing Hung Ng,
• Chi-Chung Yee,
• Kai Wang and
• Ho Yu Au-Yeung

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1846–1853, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.158

• other recognition units render them promising building blocks for the construction of other high-order interlocked structures. Keywords: azide–alkyne cycloaddition; catenane; click chemistry; cucurbit[6]uril; mechanical bond; Introduction Catenanes are topologically non-trivial molecules possessing

• mechanically interlocked macrocycles. The flexible but strong mechanical bond between the interlocked macrocycles offers a unique opportunity for exploiting catenanes as molecular machines or new materials with unusual mechanical properties [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Over the years, different templates and

• isomers such as the non-interlocked products or lower-order catenanes will form, which are detrimental to the synthesis efficiency as well as complicating the purification process [13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. One strategy to overcome this challenge is to couple the mechanical bond and covalent bond

Synthesis of multivalent host and guest molecules for the construction of multithreaded diamide pseudorotaxanes

• Nora L. Löw,
• Egor V. Dzyuba,
• Boris Brusilowskij,
• Lena Kaufmann,
• Elisa Franzmann,
• Wolfgang Maison,
• Emily Brandt,
• Daniel Aicher,
• Arno Wiehe and
• Christoph A. Schalley

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 234–245, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.24

• systematically varied. Interlocked molecules [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] are interesting not only because of their particular topology or the mechanical bond, but also as they have been intensely investigated with respect to the construction of molecular machines [29][30][31

• ][32]. The mechanical bond appears particularly suited for this goal, because it connects the axle and wheel strongly, but leaves freedom for the relative movement of the two components. Pseudorotaxanes are the precursors for both rotaxane syntheses by stoppering reactions or catenanes by