Poly[ n ]catenanes: Synthesis of molecular interlocked chains

Abstract

A little zinc makes the rings all link Although polymer strands are often informally called chains, molecular topologies that actually resemble extended macroscopic chain links have proven surprisingly challenging to make. Most approaches have settled for tethering pairs of interlocked rings amid spacer segments. Wu et al. now report successful synthesis of polycatenanes in which tens of rings are consecutively interlinked. The key was using zinc ions to template the threading of one macrocycle precursor through flanking preformed macrocycles, after which metathesis catalysis closed up the first ring, and the metal could be flushed out. Science , this issue p. 1434