KEYWORDS
ROTAXANE • PIROUETTING • METALLACARBORANE • EXSY • MOLECULAR MACHINE 2
ABSTRACTA fine control of the pirouetting motion of rotaxanes has been achieved by using a series of metallabisdicarbollides. The latter have been used as anions in the protonated form of benzylic amide macrocycle-containing fumaramide rotaxanes. The present paper discusses the synthesis, structural and dynamic characterization of the first examples of anionic boron cluster-containing rotaxanes. In order to study the dynamic properties of such molecules, the pirouetting rate of the weakly coordinating boron cluster-containing rotaxanes with the more strongly coordinating trifluoroacetate anion (TFA -), which would form a close ion pair with the macrocycle, has been measured using the EXSY technique. Our hypothesis was that the stronger the ion pair the lower the rate of rotation due to the presence of a bigger volume of solvent to be moved. The anion would act as an anchor for the pirouetting motion. Indeed, the results show the expected trend:the rotaxane with the closely coordinating TFA -anion pirouettes most slowly and the most weakly coordinating hexabromoderivative of cobaltabisdicarbollide the fastest.