Macrocyclization Reactions Resulting in Interlocked Products

The synthesis of interlocked molecules has become commonplace over the past 25 years with the gradual development of a number of highly facile template methods for their construction. What were once laboratory curiosities have now taken a prominent place in the broad field of supramolecular chemistry, especially regarding their uses and further potential as molecular switches and machines [1], We present here an overview of the main synthetic approaches to these molecules, with a focus on methods in which macrocyclization reactions result in interlocked products. The analysis is by no means meant to be comprehensive or exhaustive in detail, but rather to convey the variety and utility of the selected synthetic strategies in generating abiotic rotaxane and catenane superstructures. 

Figure 10.1 Clipping strategies in macrocyclization reactions resulting in interlocked products such as [2]rotaxanes and [2]catenanes.

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