Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry Blog

Rotaxanes are mechanically interlocked molecules with interesting physical and chemical properties. They have attracted much attention due to their potential applications in molecular electronics, smart materials and molecular machines.

In this HOT paper, Da-Hui Qu, He Tian and their research group at East China University of Science & Technology in Shanghai, synthesise a multi-state [2]rotaxane based on a crown ether. They introduce a dithienylethene (DTE) photochromic functional group that can be switched by pH, light or the combination of pH and light. This photochromic unit is responsible of the multi-mode alteration of intercomponent interactions such as energy transfer, electron transfer and charge transfer interactions.

This multi-state molecular shuttle has potential to construct multi-level molecular machines.

You can now read this article, which is free to download until 25th May, here.

The referees and the editorial office found it very interesting. We hope you like it too.

Altering intercomponent interactions in a photochromic multi-state [2]rotaxane
Hui Zhang, Xin-Xin Kou, Qiong Zhang, Da-Hui Qu and He Tian
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2011
DOI: 10.1039/C1OB05307H