Interlocked molecules articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    By virtue of the rotational motions of interlocked macrocycles, the authors describe a chameleon-like catenane host that can adjust its co-conformation for selective binding to copper(I) or sulfate ion. While the cationic copper(I) complex is achiral, the interlocked rings in the catenane host rotate and re-orient into a chiral co-conformation upon forming the anionic sulfate complex.

    • Yueliang Yao
    • , Yuen Cheong Tse
    •  & Ho Yu Au-Yeung

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The study of cross-catenated metallacages could provide facile insights into achieving more precise control over low-symmetry/high-complexity hierarchical assembly systems but is currently lacking. Here, the authors report a cross-catenane formed between two position-isomeric Pt(II) metallacages in the solid state.

    • Yiliang Wang
    • , Taotao Liu
    •  & Jun Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The synthesis of molecular knots remains challenging. Here, the authors report the synthesis of a chiral molecular trefoil metallaknot by self-assembly which contains only 54 atoms in the backbone.

    • Zhiwen Li
    • , Jingjing Zhang
    •  & Richard J. Puddephatt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    “Cycloparaphenylenes consisting of are cyclic π-conjugated structures presetting interesting physical properties upon functionalization. However, the ring strain and steric hindrance of the substituents hamper the functionalization of small sized cycloparaphenylenes. Here, the authors describe a [6]cycloparaphenylene with twelve methoxy units employed to form a rotaxane with in-plane aromaticity upon oxidation.”

    • Naoki Narita
    • , Yusuke Kurita
    •  & Yoshitaka Tsuchido

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Enriching the toolbox of polymers, the design and construction of novel polymers with desired properties and functions remains an attractive topic in polymer chemistry. Here the authors demonstrate rotaxane-branched dendronized polymers with rotaxane-branched dendrons attached onto the polymer chains as polymers with attractive dynamic properties.

    • Yu Zhu
    • , Hanqiu Jiang
    •  & Hai-Bo Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The mechanisms by which changes in local geometries of receptor sites lower activation reaction barriers in electronically uncoupled, remote reaction moieties remain relatively unexplored. Here, the authors demonstrate allosteric acceleration in the thermal isomerization of an alkene triggered by the binding of a metal ion to a remote receptor site.

    • Yichen Yu
    • , Robert T. O’Neill
    •  & Stephen L. Craig

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mechanically interlocked architectures inspired the fabrication of numerous molecular systems, but the topological design of such architectures has not been fully explored from the nano- to the macroscopic scale. Here, the authors propose a MOFaxane, comprised of long chain molecules penetrating a microcrystal of metal– organic framework.

    • Tomoya Iizuka
    • , Hiroyuki Sano
    •  & Takashi Uemura

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Organic materials with both aggregation induced emission (AIE) and aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) effects that can emit with multiple wavelengths in the solution and aggregated state are rarely reported. Here, the authors report a chiral dual-emissive bismacrocycle which shows the unique ACQ and AIE effects inducing redshift emission with near white-light emission.

    • Xinyu Zhang
    • , Huiqing Liu
    •  & Pingwu Du

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Constructing cross-linked networks with different topologies is attractive but challenging. Here the authors present mechanically interlocked networks cross-linked by a molecular necklace whose peculiar architectural and dynamic features endow the materials with robust yet mechanically adaptive properties.

    • Zhaoming Zhang
    • , Jun Zhao
    •  & Xuzhou Yan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The development of complex molecular machinery requires a detailed appreciation of the factors that control energy pathways through the nanoscale scaffold. Here, the authors demonstrate that hetero-rotaxanes can be employed to create assemblies of different redox and photo-active components that enable selective tuning of energy transfer pathways.

    • Nicholas Pearce
    • , Katherine E. A. Reynolds
    •  & Neil R. Champness

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Encapsulating large and contorted nanographenes inside artificial receptors remain challenging. This work reports the synthesis, characterization and binding properties of a trigonal prismatic cage compound that can serve as a receptor for contorted nanographene derivatives.

    • Huang Wu
    • , Yu Wang
    •  & J. Fraser Stoddart

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Communication of chirality at a molecular level is the fundamental for transmitting chirality information but one-step communication modes in many artificial systems limits further processing the chirality information. Here, the authors report chirality communication of aromatic oligoamide sequences within interpenetrated helicate architecture in a hierarchical manner.

    • Jiajia Zhang
    • , Dan Luo
    •  & Quan Gan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Realizing overtemperature protection with a molecular device is challenging. Here, the authors demonstrate an overtemperature protection function by integrating thermo- and photoresponsive functions into a pillar[6]arene based pseudocatanene.

    • Jiabin Yao
    • , Wanhua Wu
    •  & Cheng Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Selectivity in carbene insertion reactions promoted by Ru(II)porphyrinates is achieved only upon careful control of substrate stoichiometry. Here, the authors demonstrate that endotopic catalysis and formation of mechanical bonds enables carbene insertions to occur selectively and in quantitative yield regardless of substrate stoichiometry.

    • Liniquer A. Fontana
    • , Marlon P. Almeida
    •  & Jackson D. Megiatto Jr.

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The design of covalent macrocycles which show characteristic self-assembly behaviour and host-guest properties is challenging. Here, the authors demonstrate the synthesis of diphenylamine[n]arenes through a one-pot synthesis and demonstrate the π-π pi stacking of the non-planar rings as well as ethane/ethyne host-guest interactions.

    • Lijun Mao
    • , Yang Hu
    •  & Xueliang Shi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Weak interactions between functional groups are often difficult to characterize in host–guest complexes. Here, the authors report the metal-free active template synthesis of a series of rotaxanes that permit a range of kinetically stabilized, weak crown ether-axle interactions to be characterized in solution and the solid state.

    • Chong Tian
    • , Stephen D. P. Fielden
    •  & David A. Leigh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Constructing molecular cages from entangled molecules is a complex task requiring precise topological control. Here, the authors thread together six metal-peptide rings into a giant cubic molecular capsule with a defined cavity and 24 crossover points.

    • Tomohisa Sawada
    • , Yuuki Inomata
    •  & Makoto Fujita

  • Perspective
    | Open Access

    The mechanism by which macromolecular catalysts use energy from exergonic reactions to move, adapt, and assemble has been unclear. In this Perspective article, R. Dean Astumian shows that in addition to disequilibrium of the catalyzed reaction, kinetic asymmetry is the essential feature required to drive non-equilibrium response by an information ratchet mechanism.

    • R. Dean Astumian

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mechanically interlocked molecules and molecular cages are two important themes in supramolecular chemistry. Here, the authors combine these concepts to construct a giant [13]rotaxane built around a palladium capsule, one of the most complex metallosupramolecular assemblies yet.

    • Jesus Ferrando-Soria
    • , Antonio Fernandez
    •  & Richard E. P. Winpenny

  • Article
    | Open Access

    For interlocking ring structures, knot theory predicts that the number of topologically different links increases with ring and crossing number. Here, the authors use a peptide folding-and-assembly strategy to selectively realize two highly entangled catenanes with 4 rings and 12 crossings, representing two of the 100 predicted topologies with this complexity.

    • Tomohisa Sawada
    • , Ami Saito
    •  & Makoto Fujita

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hierarchical non-intertwined ring-in-ring complexes are intriguing but challenging supramolecular targets. Here, the authors describe a box-in-box assembly based on radical-pairing interactions between two rigid diradical dicationic cyclophanes; the inner box can further accommodate guests to form Russian doll-like assemblies.

    • Kang Cai
    • , Mark C. Lipke
    •  & J. Fraser Stoddart

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Molecular capsules typically bind only guests with volumes smaller than their cavities. Here, the authors find that a polyaromatic capsule accommodates linear amphiphilic oligomers in a length-dependent manner, whereas short chains are fully crammed into the cavity, long chains can be incorporated into the capsule in a threaded fashion.

    • Masahiro Yamashina
    • , Shunsuke Kusaba
    •  & Michito Yoshizawa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mechanically interlocked molecules are extensively applied as artificial molecular machines but rotaxane-branched dendrimers are rarely explored because of synthetic challenges. Here the authors present the construction of dual stimuli-responsive rotaxane-branched dendrimer which can be stimulated by DMSO or acetate ions.

    • Xu-Qing Wang
    • , Wei Wang
    •  & Hai-Bo Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Molecules exhibiting Möbius topology are fascinating but challenging synthetic targets. Here, the authors report the elegant synthesis and crystal structure of a catenane formed from two fully conjugated, interlocked Möbius nanohoops, and use theoretical calculations to understand its conformational stability and aromaticity.

    • Yang-Yang Fan
    • , Dandan Chen
    •  & Huan Cong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Supramolecular assemblies remain of great importance to a variety of fields, yet their targeted design and synthesis remains highly challenging. Here, Cooper and colleagues combine computational screening with high-throughput robotic synthesis and discover 33 new organic cage molecules that form cleanly in one-pot syntheses.

    • R. L. Greenaway
    • , V. Santolini
    •  & A. I. Cooper

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Doping carbon nanomaterials with heteroatoms is the most common way to change their catalytic activity. Here, the authors show that the catalytic properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes can be modified by non-covalently encapsulating them within electron-accepting or electron-donating macrocycles to form rotaxane-like structures.

    • Matías Blanco
    • , Belén Nieto-Ortega
    •  & Emilio M. Pérez

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Proton exchange is critical in many applications, such as in conductive proton exchange membranes, but achieving fast proton exchange still remains a challenge. Here the authors report fast proton exchange in a rotaxane based polymer by exploiting thermally triggered translational motion of the mechanically bonded rotaxane.

    • Xiaolin Ge
    • , Yubin He
    •  & Tongwen Xu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Homo radical spin-pairing interactions between two identical aromatic radicals are common in supramolecular chemistry, but hetero interactions between two different aromatic radicals are seldom observed. Here, the authors find that hetero radical pairing between a radical cation and a radical anion, together with Coulombic attraction, can drive host-guest recognition, representing a new supramolecular recognition motif.

    • Xujun Zheng
    • , Yang Zhang
    •  & Hao Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The complexity of rotaxane dendrimers poses a great synthetic challenge and the synthesis of higher generation rotaxane dendrimers has therefore rarely been reported. Here the authors report the synthesis of acid-base switchable rotaxane dendrimers up to generation 4 and demonstrate the uptake and release of guest molecules.

    • Chak-Shing Kwan
    • , Rundong Zhao
    •  & Ken Cham-Fai Leung

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A deeper understanding of the mechanics of molecular machines is limited by the fast motions which are in the nanosecond or picosecond timescale. Here the authors present a real-time observation of structural changes in a rotaxane-based molecular shuttle by transient two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy.

    • Matthijs R. Panman
    • , Chris N. van Dijk
    •  & Sander Woutersen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In vivo, complex topologies have been identified in proteins and DNA, while their existence in RNA is still unclear. Here, the authors design synthetic topological structures containing single stranded RNA, offering tools for investigating biologically relevant questions about RNA topology.

    • Di Liu
    • , Yaming Shao
    •  & Yossi Weizmann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Crystalline phase transition can be used to detect changes in the solid state properties of materials. Here, the authors describe the mechanical response of a crystal composed of ferrocene-containing rotaxane to laser irradiation.

    • Kai-Jen Chen
    • , Ya-Ching Tsai
    •  & Masaki Horie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Rotaxanes are interlocked molecules that can undergo sliding and rotational movements and can be used in artificial molecular machines and motors. Here, Simmel and co-workers show a rigid rotaxane structures consisting of DNA origami subunits that can slide over several hundreds of nanometres.

    • Jonathan List
    • , Elisabeth Falgenhauer
    •  & Friedrich C. Simmel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mechanically locked molecules provide interesting topological structures and can present challenging synthetic targets. Here the authors report the synthesis of mechanically self-locked molecules, including chiral endo-spirobicyclics containing multiply interlocked rings within a single molecule.

    • Sheng-Hua Li
    • , Heng-Yi Zhang
    •  & Yu Liu

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