Chiroptical switching in a bistable molecular shuttle.
Although various methods for switching the positions of macrocycles in bistable rotaxane-based molecular shuttles have been developed, exploiting such movements to trigger property changes has thus far received little attention. Here we describe one of the first examples of a property change achieved through a controlled large-amplitude translational motion in a rotaxane; a novel type of chiroptical switch is described, in which light-induced translation of the macrocycle along the thread of a [2]rotaxane produces a strong induced circular dichroism (ICD) response only when the macrocycle is hydrogen-bonded to a chiral peptide station.
School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, The King's Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JJ, UK.
Giovanni
G
Bottari
David A
DA
Leigh
Emilio M
EM
Pérez