Template-directed protocols provide a routine approach to the synthesis of mechanically interlocked molecules (MIMs), in which the mechanical bonds are stabilized by a wide variety of weak interactions. In this Article, we describe a strategy for the preparation of neutral [2]catenanes with sliding interlocked electron-rich rings, starting from two degenerate donor-acceptor [2]catenanes, consis...

Catenanes - molecules consisting of interlocked macrocyclic rings - have been prepared by templation strategies for some thirty years. The utilization of Cu(I) cation, aromatic donor-acceptor interactions and hydrogen bonding assisted self-assembly strategies has led to the construction of numerous examples of these aesthetically pleasing species. This review seeks to discuss key developments i...

Kinetoplast DNA (kDNA), the mitochondrial DNA of trypanosomes, is an enormous network of interlocked minicircles and maxicircles. We selectively removed minicircles from Trypanosoma equiperdum kDNA networks by restriction enzyme cleavage. Maxicircles remained in aggregates that were resistant to protease or RNase and contained no residual minicircles, but were resolved into circular monomers by...

A series of novel dithienylethene-based macrocycles containing ammonium moieties has been synthesized. They have been employed as templates to construct [2]catenanes showing their photoisomerization properties by means of a dynamic covalent chemistry approach. Their structures have been reliably confirmed by NMR, ESI-MS or MALDI-QTOF-MS, and elemental analysis, and their energy-minimized struct...

The concept of ideal geometric configurations was recently applied to the classification and characterization of various knots. Different knots in their ideal form (i.e., the one requiring the shortest length of a constant-diameter tube to form a given knot) were shown to have an overall compactness proportional to the time-averaged compactness of thermally agitated knotted polymers forming cor...

In recent years, pioneering work carried out by Sauvage, Stoddart and co-workers [1], , has focused on the development of synthetic methodologies and the characterization of catenanes and rotaxanes. Catenanes and rotaxanes are examples of interlocked molecule. Unlike classical molecular structures, they consist of two or more separate components which are mechanically connected. Catenanes consi...

An investigation into the most suitable alkali metal ions for templating the assembly of [2]catenanes from di-, tri-, and tetra(ethylene glycol)-containing guest diamines and isophthalaldehyde has indicated that Na(+), K(+), and Rb(+) ions are optimal for preparing [2]catenanes containing at least one di(ethylene glycol) unit, two tri(ethylene glycol) units, and at least one tetra(ethylene glyc...

Mechanically interlocked and entangled molecular architectures represent one of the elaborate topological superstructures engineered at a molecular resolution. Here we report a methodology for fabricating mechanically selflocked molecules (MSMs) through highly efficient one-step amidation of a pseudorotaxane derived from dual functionalized pillar[5]arene (P[5]A) threaded by α,ω-diaminoalkane (...

Although linking number is an effective topological invariant for describing supercoiled DNA, it is inadequate for the additional interwinding in catenated or knotted DNA. We explain how the two-bridge theory of Schubert provides a powerful yet simple method for analyzing these forms by associating them with two integral invariants, alpha and beta, that measure their geometric complexity. These...