title: Three-state molecular shuttles operated using acid/base stimuli with distinct outputs.
abstract: This paper describes the acid/base-mediated three-state translational isomerization of two [2]rotaxanes, each containing N-alkylaniline and N,N-dialkylamine centers as binding sites for threaded dibenzo[24]crown-8 units. Under neutral conditions, the dialkylamine unit predominantly recognized the crown ether component through cooperative binding of a proton; when both amino units were protonated under acidic conditions, both translational isomers were generated; the addition of a strong base caused aniline-crown ether interactions to dominate. The three states of the [2]rotaxane featuring the 3,5-diphenylaniline terminus in its dumbbell-shaped component were accompanied by distinct absorptive outputs that were detectable using UV spectroscopy.
authors: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Fukui, Bunkyo, Fukui 910-8507, Japan. tokunaga@matse.u-fukui.ac.jp
authors: Yuji
authors: Y
authors: Tokunaga
authors: Masanori
authors: M
authors: Kawabata
authors: Naoki
authors: N
authors: Matsubara