Anion‐Assisted Self‐Assembly

Four- and five-component pseudorotaxanes, which self-assemble by the threading of dibenzylammonium ions through macrocyclic polyethers, behave as anion receptors. The preorganization of the positively charged recognition sites in these superstructures induces the complexation of PF ion in the solid state. This nion is partially encapsulated in the four-component, triple-stranded pseudorotaxane, but is completely enveloped within the larger binding pocket of the five-component, quadruplestranded pseudorotexane (see picture on the right).