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Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Ultrafast Time-resolved Near-IR Stimulated Raman Measurements of Functional π-conjugate Systems
Published on: February 10, 2020
Probing the structure of a rotaxane with two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy
Olaf F A Larsen1, Pavol Bodis, Wybren Jan Buma
1FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics, Kruislaan 407, 1098 SJ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
Femtosecond 2D-IR spectroscopy has been used to study the structure of a [2]rotaxane composed of a benzylic amide macrocycle that is mechanically interlocked onto a succinamide-based thread. Both the macrocycle and the thread contain carbonyl groups, and by determining the coupling between the stretching modes of these groups from the cross-peaks in the 2D-IR spectrum, the structure of the macrocycle-thread system has been probed. Our results demonstrate that 2D-IR spectroscopy can be used to observe structural changes in molecular devices on a picosecond time scale.
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