title: Poised on the brink between a bistable complex and a compound.
abstract: [reaction: see text] An enmeshed supramolecular complex, based on a semi-dumbbell-shaped component containing an asymmetrically substituted tetrathiafulvalene site and a 1,5-dioxynaphthalene site for encirclement by a cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) ring component and with a "speed bump" in the form of an thiomethyl group situated between the two recognition sites, has been self-assembled. This complex is a mixture in acetone solution of two slowly interconverting [2]pseudorotaxanes, one of which is on the verge of being a [2]rotaxane at room temperature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90095-1569, USA.
authors.forename: Jan Oskar
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Jeppesen
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Becher
authors.forename: J Fraser
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Stoddart