Rotaxanes and catenanes as prototypes of molecular machines and motors

In the course of the last 20 years, our view on rotaxanes and catenanes has completely changed. Copper(I)-templated strategies, in particular, have allowed us to prepare catenanes on a real preparative scale, in a few chemical steps from commercially available compounds. A particularly significant i...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Pure and applied chemistry 2003-01, Vol.75 (10), p.1383-1393
Main Authors: Dietrich-Buchecker, C. O., Jimenez-Molero, M. C., Sartor, V., Sauvage, J.-P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Dimers
Metathesis
Molecular machines
Molecular motors
Muscles
Organic chemistry
Rotaxanes
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In the course of the last 20 years, our view on rotaxanes and catenanes has completely changed. Copper(I)-templated strategies, in particular, have allowed us to prepare catenanes on a real preparative scale, in a few chemical steps from commercially available compounds. A particularly significant improvement was the introduction of the recently developed ring-closing metathesis reaction, using Grubbs catalyst. The dynamic properties of rotaxanes and catenanes has been exploited to construct molecular systems for which one component can be set in motion under the action of an external signal, while the other components can be considered as motionless (artificial molecular “machines ”and “motors ”). A particularly representative example is that of a rotaxane dimer, whose overall length can be controlled chemically: A metal exchange reaction (Cu /Zn ) triggers a reversible contraction/stretching process of the same molecular assembly, in a way reminiscent of the functioning of biological muscles.
ISSN:0033-4545
1365-3075
DOI:10.1351/pac200375101383