title: The self-sorting behavior of circular helicates and molecular knots and links.
abstract: We report on multicomponent self-sorting to form open circular helicates of different sizes from a primary monoamine, Fe(II) ions, and dialdehyde ligand strands that differ in length and structure by only two oxygen atoms. The corresponding closed circular helicates that are formed from a diamine--a molecular Solomon link and a pentafoil knot--also self-sort, but up to two of the Solomon-link-forming ligand strands can be accommodated within the pentafoil knot structure and are either incorporated or omitted depending on the stage that the components are mixed.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL (UK) http://www.catenane.net.
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Ayme
authors.forename: Jonathon E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Beves
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Leigh
keywords: catenanes; chemical topology; helicates; molecular knots; supramolecular chemistry