A cyclic bis[2]catenane metallacage

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 2727 - 7
• Main Authors: Wang, Yiliang, Zhang, Yicheng, Zhou, Zhixuan, Vanderlinden, Ryan T., Li, Bin, Song, Bo, Li, Xiaopeng, Cui, Lei, Li, Jian, Jia, Xueshun, Fang, Jianhui, Li, Chunju, Stang, Peter J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.06.2020; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 140/131; 140/58; 639/638/541; 639/638/911; Cages; Coordination; Crystallography; Humanities and Social Sciences; Magnetic resonance spectroscopy; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; multidisciplinary; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Scientific imaging; Self-assembly; Solvent effect; Spectroscopy; Topology; X-ray crystallography
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16556-3

Catenated cages represent chemistry’s challenging synthetic targets because a three-dimensional assembly is necessary for their formation. Herein, a cyclic bis[2]catenane is constructed through the coordination-driven self-assembly of the interlocked bis-metallacage, by the 90° Pt(II) heteroligation of the endo-functionalized double-bridged tweezer bearing pyridyl moieties and the tetra-carboxylated linker. NMR spectrometry, X-ray crystallography and mass spectrometry confirm the formation of a cyclic bis[2]catenane with “∞”-shaped topology via a 14-component self-assembly. Particularly, reversibly responsive transformation between the bis[2]catenane and the bis-metallacage can be realized by guest exchange, concentration effect and solvent effect. This work represents a novel example of a cyclic cage-based [2]catenane oligomer. Catenated cages are challenging synthetic targets in chemistry. Here, the authors employ a multi-component coordination strategy using a Pt(II) heteroligation to construct a cyclic bis[2]catenane metallacage, which could be reversibly transformed between the catenated structure and the bis-metallacage.