Make the Switch

Make the Switch

Author: Angewandte Chemie International Edition

Collaborators from Taiwan have synthesized and characterized an interesting example of a urea-based [2]rotaxane which behaves as both a molecular switch and an organogelator. They nicely demonstrated that both functions can be mediated under acid/base or anion control (see scheme of the anion-induced switching of the [2]rotaxane).

Chen, Chiu, and co-workers have carried out different kinds of 2D NMR experiments and X-ray analysis to characterize and study these switches based on interlocked molecules. They have presented a rare example of switchable sol-gels based on a rotaxane motif—where the gel form arises from intermolecular hydrogen bonds and the switching arises from the mechanical location of the ring component.


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