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 …

How and why do molecules tangle or thread? Investigations of molecular knots (knotanes)
may shed some light on the mechanisms of (supra) molecular templation and the folding of …

This book provides an overview of fundamental concepts of asymmetric synthesis
highlighting the significance of stereochemical and stereodynamic reaction control. Topics …

One of the key goals of supramolecular chemistry is to assemble structural building blocks
into arrays with new properties that emerge only in supramolecular architectures. These new …

The synthesis of rotaxanes, catenanes, and trefoil knotanes can only be efficiently
accomplished, when a suitable template effect is used that provides a means either to thread …

Abstract Mechanically Interlocked Molecules (MIMs), such as catenanes, knots, and
rotaxanes, are a class of molecules that possess mechanical bonds. These bonds constitute …

The template‐directed construction of crown‐ether‐like macrocycles around secondary
dialkylammonium ions (R2NH2+) has been utilized for the expedient (one‐pot) and high …

Figure 2. The molecular thread I incorporates two bidentate chelating units with each chelate
being chiral; the red dot represents the copper (I) atom. In the course of the complexation …

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 …

A [2] catenane in which the macrocyclic polyether, bisparaphenylene [34] crown-10, is
interlocked with the tetracationic cyclophane, cyclobis (paraquat-p-phenylene), is shown by …