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Synfacts 2007(5): 0489-0489  
DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-968418
Synthesis of Materials and Unnatural Products
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

A Photoswitchable Molecular Lock

Contributor(s): Timothy M. Swager, Koushik Venkatesan
K. Yamashita, M. Kawano, M. Fujita*
The University of Tokyo and CREST, Tokyo, Japan
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Publication History

Publication Date:
24 April 2007 (online)

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Significance

The authors report a precise, clean molecular lock that operates by light. They achieve the catenation in an elegant fashion by labilizing the inert Pt(II)-py bond by UV irradiation. The Pt(II)-clipped coordination ring 1a was obtained by heating (en)Pt(NO3)2 and the corresponding ligand at 90 °C in DMF for 1 h in 82% yield. The catenane formed quantitatively upon irradiation of 1a for 15 min in DMSO-d 6-D2O. Additionally, the mechanism of ligand substitution at the Pt(II) center was elucidated by a kinetic study of the catenation process. Furthermore, DFT calculations also supported the photolabilization of the platinum complex.