Quantitative conformational study of redox-active [2]rotaxanes, part 1: Methodology and application to a model [2]rotaxane

This paper reports a novel methodology for the conformational analysis of 2]rotaxanes. It combines NMR spectroscopic (COSY, NOESY and the recently reported paramagnetic line-broadening and suppression technique) and electrochemical techniques to enable a quantitative analysis of the co-conformations of interlocked molecules and the conformations of their components. This methodology was used to study a model 2]rotaxane in solution. This 2]rotaxane consists of an axle that incorporates an electron-poor, doubly positively charged viologen that threads an electron-rich crown ether. It has been shown that the axle of the 2]rotaxane in its dicationic state adopts a folded conformation in solution and the crown ether is localised at the viologen moiety. Following a one-electron reduction of viologen, the paramagnetic radical cation of the 2]rotaxane retains its folded conformation in solution. The data also demonstrate that in the radical cation the crown ether remains localised at the viologen, despite its reduced affinity for the singly reduced viologen. The combined quantitative NMR spectroscopic and electrochemical characterisation of the electromechanical function of the model 2]rotaxane in solution provides an important reference point for the study of switching in structurally related bistable 2]rotaxanes, which is the subject of the second part of this work.