MOFs meet rotaxanes

A rotaxane has been used as a linker in the manufacture of a metal organic framework (MOF) to give a rigid structure with a rotating macrocyclic ring within it. Writing in Nature Chemistry (DOI: 10.1038/nchem.1354), Stephen Loeb and colleagues from the University of Windsor, Canada, created the MOF and showed that the macrocycle can freely and rapidly rotate using ²H and ¹³C NMR.

The results suggest a way forward for solid state molecular switches and machines based on interlocked and mechanically constrained molecules like these MOFs.