Published in Chemistry World, 28 Apr 2009
Chemists in France have developed a simple method to synthesise tricky ‘[3]rotaxane’ molecules for potential applications in intelligent materials and molecular machines. The method, which uses metal ions as a template, should be able to provide high yields of [3]rotaxane and other threaded species.
Rotaxanes are a class of compound that contain dumbbell-shaped molecules threaded through other, ring-shaped molecules. They have generated much interest over the past two decades because they can change shape in response to an external stimulus, an ability that lends them to intelligent materials and molecular machines in which the molecules themselves process information. […]
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