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Updated: May 18, 2026

Self-assembling Morphologies Obtained from Helical Polycarbodiimide Copolymers and Their Triazole Derivatives
Published on: February 7, 2017
Constructions of two polycatenanes and one polypseudo-rotaxane by discrete tetrahedral cages and stool-like building
Long Jiang1, Ping Ju, Xian-Rui Meng
1MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinorganic and Synthetic Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, and School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Abstract:
Mechanically Interlocked molecules, such as catenanes and rotaxanes, are of great interest due to their fascinating structures and potential applications, while such molecules have been mainly restricted to comprising components of interlocked rings or polygons. The constructions of infinite polycatenanes and polyrotaxanes by discrete cages remain great challenge, and only two infinite polycatenanes fabricated by discrete cages have been reported so far, while the structures of polyrotaxanes and polypseudo-rotaxanes fabricated by discrete build units have not been documented to date. Herein we report the first example of a two-dimensional (2D) polypseudo-rotaxane fabricated by stool-like build units, the second example of a one-dimensional (1D) polycatenane, and the second example of a three-dimensional (3D) polycatenane, which were assemblied by discrete tetrahedral cages. The pores of dehydrated 3D polycatenane are dynamic, and display size-dependent adsorption/desorption behaviors of alcohols.
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