Knots and entanglements are ubiquitous. Beyond their aesthetic appeal, these fascinating
topological entities can be either useful or cumbersome. In recent decades, the importance …

Knot theory is a branch of pure mathematics, but it is increasingly being applied in a variety
of sciences. Knots appear in chemistry, not only in synthetic molecular design, but also in an …

Entangling strands in a well-ordered manner can produce useful effects, from shoelaces and
fishing nets to brown paper packages tied up with strings. At the nanoscale, non-crystalline …

Knots are being discovered with increasing frequency in both biological and synthetic
macromolecules and have been fundamental topological targets for chemical synthesis for …

Molecular knots represent one of the most extraordinary topological structures in biological
polymers. Creating highly knotted nanostructures with well-defined and sophisticated …

Conventional approaches to the synthesis of molecular knots and links mostly rely on metal
templation. We present here an alternative strategy that uses the hydrophobic effect to drive …

1.1. History and Background Knots and links are all around us (Figure 1). Be they functional
or decorative, we encounter them constantly, when, for example, tying simple bow knots in …

Knots are fascinating non-trivial topological entities. They are not only present in art and
history but in many scientific fields as well, from mathematics to biology. By targeting this …

Three 819 knots in closed-loop strands of different lengths (∼ 20, 23, and 26 nm) were used
to experimentally assess the consequences of knot tightness at the molecular level. Through …

Despite the several available strategies to build complex supramolecular constructs, only a
handful of different molecular knots have been synthesised so far. Here, in response to the …