Self-assembly of rotaxanes

Self-assembling of rotaxanes, catenanes, and molecular knots 00CRV3483. 

More recently, the construction of a series a-CD [2]rotaxanes, based on the attachment of stoppers to threads by means of metal complex formation, was described by Macartney et al. [5] They have shown that the self-assembly of rotaxanes of the type [(NC)5Fe R(CH2) R - a-CD Fe(CN)5] -where R and R are bipyridinium or pyrazi-nium (e. g., 1 in Scheme 1) happens irrespective of the order of the addition of the components to the aqueous solution. This observation infers a slow dissociation of one of the [Fe(CN)s] ions, followed by a-CD inclusion and the recomplexation of [Fe(CN)s] ion. Evidence for the formation of [2]rotaxanes is provided by the H NMR spectra, in which the signals of the symme-... 

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