Molecular knot

Crystal structure of a molecular trefoil knot with two copper(I) templating ions bound within it reported by Sauvage and coworkers in Recl. Trav. Chim. Pay. B., 1993, 427-428.

Crystal structure of a molecular trefoil knot reported by Vögtle and coworkers in the Angew. Chem. Int. Edit., 2000, 1616-1618.

In chemistry, a molecular knot, or knotane, is a mechanically-interlocked molecular architecture that is analogous to a macroscopic knot. A molecular knot in a trefoil knot configuration is chiral, having at least two enantiomers. Examples of naturally formed knotanes are DNA and certain proteins. Lactoferrin has an unusual biochemical reactivity compared to its linear analogue. Other synthetic molecular knots have a distinct globular shape and nanometer sized dimensions that make them potential building blocks in nanotechnology. Molecular knots are also referred to by some chemists as "knotanes", a term coined by Fritz Vögtle et al. in Angewandte Chemie International Edition in 2000 by analogy with rotaxane and catenane.^[1][2] The term however has yet to be adopted by IUPAC.

See also

• Macrocycles
• Supramolecular chemistry

References

• ^  Lukin O, Vögtle F (2005). "Knotting and Threading of Molecules: Chemistry and Chirality of Molecular Knots and Their Assemblies". Angewandte Chemie International Edition 44 (10): 1456–1477. doi:10.1002/anie.200460312. PMID 15704147. 
• ^  Safarowsky O, Nieger M, Fröhlich R, Vögtle F (2000). "A Molecular Knot with Twelve Amide Groups - One-Step Synthesis, Crystal Structure, Chirality". Angewandte Chemie International Edition 39 (9): 1616–1618. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1521-3773(20000502)39:9<1616::AID-ANIE1616>3.0.CO;2-Y. PMID 10820452.