Transition metal-templated formation of -catenanes and -rotaxanes

Transition metal-templated formation of [2]-catenanes and [2]-rotaxanes 

CHAMBRON, S. CHARDON-NOBLAT, C. O. DIETRICH-BUCHECKER, V. HEITZ and J.-P. SAUVAGE 

A limited number of syntheses of catenanes and rotaxanes have been devised since the late 1960s.2-8 They include totally directed3 8 as well as statistical2,7 syntheses, and, more recently, template syntheses.4-6 

In the early 1980s, a transition-metal template strategy for the synthesis of catenanes was developed in our laboratory.9 It is based on the ability of Cu(I) to entwine two diphenylphenanthroline molecules in such a way that the coordination geometry around the metal is tetrahedral. Thus catenanes 

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