The self-assembly of a highly ordered [2]catenane

Abstract

Template-directed synthesis has been used to construct a [2]catenane in which the two molecular components, the cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) tetracation and 1,5-dinaphtho-38-crown-10, are found to be ordered non-covalently with respect to each other in both the solid (by X-ray crystallography) and solution (by NMR spectroscopy) states and to influence each other to the extent of establishing electrochemical gradients for the stepwise one electron reductions of the two paraquat units.