A Controllable Chiral Molecular Machine: Movement on Molecular Level

With the view to develop new chiral molecular switches, a new pH-controlled bistable chiral [3]rotaxane with a binaphthalene as chiral moiety is synthesized and characterized. The movement of the macrocycle DB24C8 along the thread tunes the dihedral angle between the two naphthalene rings and supplies tunable circular dichroism output signals.