title: Flexible, Linear Chains Act as Baffles To Inhibit the Intramolecular Rotation of Molecular Turnstiles.
abstract: In artificial molecular devices, flexible, linear chains typically exhibit very weak capability in inhibiting molecular motion. Herein, we describe the dynamic properties of a series of molecular turnstiles consisting of a rigid frame and a phenyl rotator flanked with linear alkoxymethyl substituents. The long, flexible substituents act as elastic baffles to inhibit the rotations of the rotator at medium to fast speeds on the NMR time scale. When the rotator moves slowly, the substituents become more relaxed, thus obtaining an opportunity to completely thread through the cavity of the turnstiles. These findings reveal a basic but missing correlation between steric hindrance and speed of motion for flexible, linear chains in dynamic molecular devices, thus opening up a new direction toward molecular machines with more elaborate dynamic functions.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Photochemistry and Key Laboratory of Radiopharmaceuticals, Ministry of Education; College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University , Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Chengyuan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Photochemistry and Key Laboratory of Radiopharmaceuticals, Ministry of Education; College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University , Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Lishuang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Photochemistry and Key Laboratory of Radiopharmaceuticals, Ministry of Education; College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University , Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Jiaojiao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Junfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Photochemistry and Key Laboratory of Radiopharmaceuticals, Ministry of Education; College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University , Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Xuebin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Photochemistry and Key Laboratory of Radiopharmaceuticals, Ministry of Education; College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University , Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Photochemistry and Key Laboratory of Radiopharmaceuticals, Ministry of Education; College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University , Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Xuebo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Photochemistry and Key Laboratory of Radiopharmaceuticals, Ministry of Education; College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University , Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang