Dynamic covalent synthesis of donor-acceptor interlocked architectures in solution and at the solution:surface interface.

Despite advances in the range of mechanically interlocked architectures that can be synthesized and operated as supramolecular machines, motors and sensors in solution, in many cases their synthesis is laborious and expensive requiring long multistep pathways with extensive purification at each stage. Dynamic covalent chemistry has been shown to overcome problems with traditional kinetically controlled synthetic approaches that often afford low yields of interlocked architectures due to irreversible formation of non-interlocked by-products. Herein, we describe the use of reversible disulfide exchange reactions as a means to assemble catenanes and rotaxanes in organic solutions. Moreover, the application of this thermodynamic approach to assemble interlocked architectures at the solution:surface interface, specifically polymer resins, is discussed.