Herein,
we present an example of covalent cages, whose flexible
framework undergoes extending–shrinking motion under halide
control. In the absence of halide anions, the free cage assumes a
flattened conformation: the cavity is compressed along the C
3 axis passing through the tertiary amines,
and the two tribenzylamine platforms are eclipsed. Halide encapsulation
promotes a large conformational rearrangement of the cage, involving
an extension of the cavity along the C
3 axis and shrinkage along the equatorial plane. Interestingly, the
rearrangement is accompanied by the pyramidal inversion of the tertiary
amines and by the rotation of the tribenzylamine-based platforms,
which become staggered. The imidazolium-containing arms wrap around
the spherical anion, leading to a racemic mixture of the M and P helical
complexes. As expected from the flexible structure of the cage, the
switch between the two limit conformations can be repeated for several
cycles under alternating chemical stimuli (AgNO3/TBACl).
This result is consistent with the low activation barriers determined
by computational investigations. These also allowed us to quantify
the energy difference between the shrunk and expanded cage conformations
and to hypothesize an energetic pathway along which the conformational
rearrangement can occur.