Supramolecular Polymer Cross-Linked by Discrete Tris-[2]pseudorotaxane Metallacycles and Its Redox-Responsive Behavior

A new discrete hexagonal metallacycle M containing tris-[2]pseudorotaxane moiety has been successfully designed and synthesized via coordination-driven self-assembly. The newly designed tris-[2]pseudorotaxane metallacycle was well characterized with nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectra analysis. Such tris-[2]pseudorotaxane metallacycle M and pillar[5]arene dimer (PD) could further form a new family of cross-linked redox-responsive supramolecular polymer M superset of(PD)(3) through a host guest interaction. Interestingly, the polymer M superset of(PD)(3) displayed redox-responsive behavior and showed tuned weight-average diffusion coefficients D upon redox stimuli, which is attributed to the changed coordination geometries of [Cu(phen)(2)](+) and [Cu(phen)(2)](2+) in such system.