Abstract
The precise operation of molecular motion for constructing complicated mechanically interlocked molecules has received considerable attention and is still an energetic field of supramolecular chemistry. Herein, we reported the construction of two tris[2]pseudorotaxanes metallacycles with acid–base controllable molecular motion through self-sorting strategy and host–guest interaction. Firstly, two hexagonal Pt(II) metallacycles M1 and M2 decorated with different host–guest recognition sites have been constructed via coordination-driven self-assembly strategy. The binding of metallacycles M1 and M2 with dibenzo-24-crown-8 (DB24C8) to form tris[2]pseudorotaxanes complexes TPRM1 and TPRM2 have been investigated. Furthermore, by taking advantage of the strong binding affinity between the protonated metallacycle M2 and DB24C8, the addition of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) as a stimulus successfully induces an acid-activated motion switching of DB24C8 between the discrete metallacycles M1 and M2. This research not only affords a highly efficient way to construct stimuli-responsive smart supramolecular systems but also offers prospects for precisely control multicomponent cooperative motion.
Highlights
Molecular machines in living systems have long been in widespread use and played a critical role in life’s activities [1,2]
Two hexagonal Pt(II) metallacycles M1 and M2 decorated with different recognition sites were successfully constructed and exhibited great self-sorting properties
The constructed tris[2]pseudorotaxanes TPRM2 systems could suffer from the chemical stimuli of DBU to induce DB24C8 to leave from the binding sites of the metallacycle M2, which successfully demonstrated the motion of DB24C8
Summary
Molecular machines in living systems have long been in widespread use and played a critical role in life’s activities [1,2]. Interlocked molecules (MIMs) [21,22], with intriguing topologies and unique dynamic features, have been considered as a versatile platform in developing molecular machines. It is worth noting that pseudorotaxanes were usually used as precursors toward the construction of rotaxanes, catenanes and molecular switches [35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42]. The design and preparation of pseudorotaxanes, especially with intriguing and novel topologies, have been raising more interest and are still greatly challenging
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