Effect of pressure on [2]pseudorotaxane formation and decomplexation and their corresponding activation volumes

In this study, we investigated the effect of pressure on the formation and decomplexation of [2]pseudorotaxanes. High pressure accelerated the formation of [2]pseudorotaxanes in an aprotic nonpolar solvent (CDCl(3)/CD(3)CN) via the slipping approach when using two crown ether/secondary ammonium salt systems: dibenzo[24]crown-8/bis(cyclohexylmethyl)ammonium salt (1a/2a) and tetrabenzo[24]crown-8/dibenzylammonium salt (1b/2b). The influence of pressure on the rate constants for the formation of the [2]pseudorotaxanes 3a and 3b revealed activation volumes (DeltaV(double dagger)) of -2.5 and -4.6 cm(3) mol(-1), respectively, at 303 K and zero pressure. We also investigated the effect of pressure on the decomplexation of the [2]pseudorotaxanes 3a and 3b in a polar solvent (DMSO-d(6)/CDCl(3)), obtaining activation volumes of -0.9 and -0.4 cm(3) mol(-1), respectively, at 303 K and zero pressure. Moreover, we calculated the activation parameters for the decomplexation processes on the basis of transition state theory at each pressure.