Catenane

Crystal structure of a catenane with a cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) macrocycle reported by Stoddart and coworkers.[1]
Schematic animation of the template-directed synthesis of the bis-bipyridinium cyclophane / para-phenylene crown ether [2]catenane described in the text.
Crystal structure of a catenane reported by Sauvage and coworkers.[2]

In macromolecular chemistry, a catenane (from Latin catena 'chain') is a mechanically interlocked molecular architecture consisting of two or more interlocked macrocycles, i.e. a molecule containing two or more intertwined rings. The interlocked rings cannot be separated without breaking the covalent bonds of the macrocycles. They are conceptually related to other mechanically interlocked molecular architectures, such as rotaxanes, molecular knots or molecular Borromean rings. Recently the terminology "mechanical bond" has been coined that describes the connection between the macrocycles of a catenane. Catenanes have been synthesised in two different ways: statistical synthesis and template-directed synthesis.

  1. ^ Ashton, Peter R.; Brown, Christopher L.; Chrystal, Ewan J. T.; Goodnow, Timothy T.; Kaifer, Angel E.; Parry, Keith P.; Philp, Douglas; Slawin, Alexandra M. Z.; Spencer, Neil; Stoddart, J. Fraser; Williams, David J. (1991). "The self-assembly of a highly ordered [2]catenane". Journal of the Chemical Society, Chemical Communications (9): 634. doi:10.1039/C39910000634.
  2. ^ Cesario, M.; Dietrich-Buchecker, C. O.; Guilhem, J.; Pascard, C.; Sauvage, J. P. (1985). "Molecular structure of a catenand and its copper(I) catenate: complete rearrangement of the interlocked macrocyclic ligands by complexation". Journal of the Chemical Society, Chemical Communications (5): 244. doi:10.1039/C39850000244.