title: A simple and highly effective ligand system for the copper(I)-mediated assembly of rotaxanes.
abstract: A [2]rotaxane was produced through the assembly of a picolinaldehyde, an amine, and a bipyridine macrocycle around a Cu(I) template by imine bond formation in close-to-quantitative yield. An analogous [3]rotaxane is obtained in excellent yield by replacing the amine with a diamine, thus showing the suitability of the system for the construction of higher order interlocked structures. The rotaxanes are formed within a few minutes simply through mixing the components in solution at room temperature and they can be isolated through removal of the solvent or precipitation.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, The King's Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JJ (UK).
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Leigh
authors.forename: Inigo J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Vitorica-Yrezabal
authors.forename: Steffen L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Woltering
keywords: copper; imines; rotaxanes; self-assembly; supramolecular chemistry