title: Templated synthesis of desymmetrized [2]catenanes with excellent translational selectivity.
abstract: Desymmetrized [2]catenanes were synthesized and shown to exhibit excellent translational selectivity. The templated synthesis takes effect from the formation of pseudorotaxanes between pi-rich crown ethers and a pi-deficient pyromellitic (PmI) unit, followed by macrocyclization around the crown ethers with the creation of a bipyridinium (BPy) unit. The crown ethers preferably encircle the BPy unit in the resulting [2]catenanes in both solution and the solid state, as indicated by various spectroscopic analyses.
authors.affiliation: The Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. yliu@lbl.gov
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Liana M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Klivansky
authors.forename: Saeed I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Xiyun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang