Mechanically interlocked molecules (MIMs) are species composed of two or more covalent components held together through mechanical entanglement, rather than traditional covalent bonds. Despite some of the earliest research on MIMs focussing on the synthesis of catenanes, molecules composed of two or more interlocked macrocycles (Fig. 1), rotaxanes have come to dominate the area. This is due, in part, to the need for a challenging intramolecular cyclisation event to successfully realise the formation of catenanes.
This talk shall present a high-yielding Cu(I)-catalysed active template1 approach to the synthesis of catenanes from simple precursor molecules.2 The employment of this approach to the preparation of enantiopure catenanes3 which exhibit an unusual form of chirality – topological chirality – shall then be described. Finally a preliminary study into the use of catenanes as ligands for the formation of flexible coordination networks4 will be outlined.
Fig. 1 Cartoon representation of a [2]catenane.
References
[1] J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2006, 128, 2186.
[2] J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2018, 140, 4787.
[3] Chem, 2019, DOI: 10.1016/j.chempr.2019.03.008.
[4] Org. Biomol. Chem., 2019, 17, 2442.