Template-Directed Synthesis of Cyclocarbon Catenanes

Lead Research Organisation: UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Department Name: Oxford Chemistry

Abstract

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Publications

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Anderson H (2021) A Short History of Cyclocarbons in Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan

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Patrick CW (2022) Polyyne [3]Rotaxanes: Synthesis via Dicobalt Carbonyl Complexes and Enhanced Stability. in Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English)

Studentship Projects

Project Reference Relationship Related To Start End Student Name
EP/N509711/1 30/09/2016 29/09/2021
2124672 Studentship EP/N509711/1 30/09/2018 30/03/2022 Connor Patrick
NE/W502728/1 31/03/2021 30/03/2022
2124672 Studentship NE/W502728/1 30/09/2018 30/03/2022 Connor Patrick
 
Description This award has been used to fund a project that aims to develop route to carbon-rich molecules. The project can be split into two main areas of achievement:
1. We have successfully prepared long polyyne [3]rotaxanes with up to 14 contiguous acetylene units in length. The physical properties of these [3]rotaxanes were compared to the analogous (non-interlocked) dumbbells. It was found that the interlocked polyynes were markedly more stable (up to 4.5 times more stable, as evaluated by UV-vis methods) than the non-interlocked counterparts. Importantly, while these rotaxanes show improved stability, we verified very little changed in their physical properties (by NMR and optical spectroscopic methods). This work has confirmed that mechanically interlocked polyynes remain a promising approach to building up much longer, more stable polyynes.
2. We have successfully prepared masked cyclocarbon [n]catenanes and polyyne [n]rotaxanes of varying size/length. While this important milestone was met only very recently, work is already underway at 'unmasking' these compounds the yield polyyne shielded polyynes of unprecedented length. Additionally, unmasking the cyclic analogue could give access to cyclocarbon [n]catenanes - a cyclic ring of carbon atoms that has piqued academic interest for years, but has yet to be experimentally isolated.
Exploitation Route These findings not only confirm that supramolecular encapsulation brings about a significant improvement in the stability of these, otherwise, highly reactive systems, but has also demonstrated a novel approach to building increasingly large carbon-rich systems. We expect this work would be used be researchers in the field to prepare a multitude of other carbon-rich systems. This work would also be taken forward in our research group. We aim to prepare these exciting compounds in higher yields (allowing more in-depth studies into them) and also to generate larger systems. The physical properties of these could then be evaluated.
Sectors Electronics

Energy