Functional rotaxanes

In these cases 14 and 22 act as beads, threaded on stoppered polyether chains containing the Tr-electron-rich or 7r-electron-deficient stations. This noncovalent interaction simplifies the synthetic procedures necessary, as the unstoppered thread and its bead will self-assemble, and the resulting charge transfer complex can be stoppered with bulky terminal groups to give the functional rotaxane. Other sue-... 

Cambron J.-C. and Sauvage J.-P. 1998. Functional rotaxanes from controlled molecular motions to electron transfer between chemically non connected chromophores. Chem. A Euro. J. 4 1362-1366. 

The threading-followed-by-capping method has been recently employed by Stoddart to prepare a [2]rotaxane under thermodynamic control [60]. In this approach, the dibenzylammonium ion 28 - which is terminated by an aldehyde function - is mixed with the dibenzo[24]crown-8 ether (20) to form a threaded species. Upon addition of a bulky amine, the aldehyde-terminated template can be converted into an imine in a reversible reaction establishing a dynamic equilibrium (see 29 and 30 in Scheme 17). 

A variety of hydrophobic and hydrophilic squaraine rotaxane probes and labels such as 21a-21e c Rp and 22a-22e c Rp, containing reactive carboxylic functionalities and hydrophilic sulfo groups, are disclosed in a recent patent application [60]. It was shown that not only aniline-based squaraines 21a-21e but also heterocyclic squaraines 22a-22e can form stable pseudorotaxane complexes. The indo-lenine-based squaraine 22a forms rotaxane 22a C Rp. Importantly, also the sulfonated squaraine 22b could be successfully encapsulated in a Leigh-type, phenylene-based, tetralactam macrocycle to yield the water-soluble rotaxane 22b C Rp. Quatemized, indolenme-based squaraines do not form pseudorotaxanes probably because of sterical hindrance caused by /V-alkyl and 3,3 -dimethyl groups. On the other hand, quatemized benzothiazole (22c) and benzoselenazole (22d) squaraines could be embedded in a Leigh-type macrocycle to yield rotaxanes 22c C Rp and 22d C Rp, respectively. The hydrophilic, mono-reactive rotaxane 22e-NHS C Rp based on asymmetric squaraine, synthesized by a cross-reaction of squaric acid with the two different indolenines, was also obtained. 

Cooke and coworkers incorporated pseudo-rotaxanes on the periphery of a NP as a means of reversibly modifying NPs structure and function.44 MMPCs featuring... 

Figure 13.8 Schematic operation of a two-station rotaxane as a controllable molecular shuttle, and idealized representation of the potential energy of the system as a function of the position of the ring relative to the axle upon switching off and on station A. The number of dots in each position reflects the relative population of the corresponding coconformation in a statistically significant ensemble. Structures (a) and (c) correspond to equilibrium states, whereas (b) and (d) are metastable states. An alternative approach would be to modify station through an external stimulus in order to make it a stronger recognition site compared to station A.

An interesting example of a system whose components become mechanically bound upon surface immobilization is rotaxane trans-21 (Fig. 13.24), consisting of a ferrocene-functionalized /3-cyclodextrin (fi-CD) macrocycle threaded on a molecule containing a photoisomerizable azobenzene unity and a long alkyl chain.33 A monolayer of trans-21 was self-assembled on a gold electrode. Therefore, the ring... 

The redox-controlled mechanical switching in SAMs of disulfide-functionalized bistable TTF-DMN rotaxanes consisting of cyclophane 124+ and a dumbbell-shaped component containing TTF and DMN stations was also extensively investigated.49... 

A similar template-directed approach was employed (Figure 31) by Anderson et al. [48] to self-assemble azo-dye [2]rotaxanes. The azobenzene diazonium salt 98 is bound by a-cyclodextrin 99 and also by / -cyclodextrin 100 in H20 with pseudorotaxane geometries. Reaction of the terminal diazonium functions with / -naphthol 101 affords the purple [2]rotaxanes 102 and 103 in yields of 12 and 15%, respectively. These two [2]rotaxanes were characterized by electrospray mass spectrometry which revealed peaks corresponding to the loss of all four sodium cations in both cases. By irradiating some of the protons of the dumbbellshaped components of these [2]rotaxanes, enhancement of the resonances of some of the cyclodextrin protons could be observed as a result of an intercomponent... 

Depending on the functionality of the stopper (amine 52 or phenol 71), the reaction affords rotaxanes with urea bonding pattern 72-74 or with carbamate units 75. In each instance the temperature had to be raised to 40°C to ensure rotaxane formation and, interestingly, the free axle 76 was the only one to be isolated. This indicates that the low solubility of the reactants and the dumbbells can be the limiting factor in rotaxane synthesis when diisocyanates are incorporated. Molecular recognition is still effective, and again the decisive pattern for molecular aggregation seems to be the initial amide bond. Furthermore the macrocycle confers solubility on the thread. 

The sulfonamide macrocycle proved to be a hospitable template, and at the same time the sulfonamide functionality bears the possibility of farther derivatiza-tion of [2]rotaxanes (see Section 8.4 Chemistry with Amide-Based Catenanes and Rotaxanes). Furthermore the expansion of the cavity did not afford a change of the blocking group - no disassembly of wheel and axle was detected. 

The great variety of incorporable building blocks also offers the synthetic chemist many potential structural and functional design possibilities. The insertion of, e.g., photo-responsive elements, groups with further supramolecular derivatization potential, or sulfonamide units which enable subsequent inter- and intramolecular linkage of catenanes and rotaxanes might render good service in the development of molecular switches [64] and devices [65]. 

Comparative hydrogenation experiments show that the addition of hydrogen to carbon-carbon double and triple bonds in rotaxane axles proceeds at a lower rate compared with the isolated axles [72], Functional groups of a linear molecule can thus be protected by rotaxanation. 

We suggest the use of the term prerotaxane for semi- or pseudorotaxanes which, because of their functional groups, can serve as reactants for or intermediates in rotaxane syntheses. 

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