An unusual nickel-copper-mediated alkyne homocoupling reaction for the active-template synthesis of [2]rotaxanes.

We report on an unusual Ni-/Cu-mediated alkyne homocoupling reaction, directed through the cavity of a bidentate macrocyclic ligand by chelated metal ions to furnish [2]rotaxanes in excellent (up to 95%) yields. This is the first active metal template reaction to employ an octahedral coordination geometry metal ion, Ni(II), and the study provides some interesting mechanistic insights into the mixed bimetallic reaction mechanism. The mixed-metal catalyst system was discovered serendipitously when Cu(I) was added to a Ni(II)-catalyzed alkyne homocoupling reaction in an attempt to facilitate chloride-acetylide ligand exchange. The role of Cu(I) in the reaction is, in fact, quite different from that originally intended. The effectiveness of having both nickel and copper present can be rationalized by the nature of a pi-activated, sigma-bonded, bimetallic intermediate in which the substitution of Ni(II) for one Cu(I) ion in the classic bimetallic Glaser reaction mechanism apparently aids reductive elimination of the acetylide ligands. The system may prove useful for the development of general mixed-metal protocols for catalytic alkyne coupling reactions as well as being a highly effective route to rotaxanes with bis-acetylene threads, which are potentially useful for materials applications (insulated molecular wires) and in molecular machines (rigid, nonfolding axles).

Two axles threaded using a single template site: active metal template macrobicyclic [3]rotaxanes.

Template approaches to rotaxanes normally require at least n - 1 template sites to interlock n components. Here we describe the one-pot synthesis of [3]rotaxanes in which a single metal template site induces formation of axles through each cavity of a bicyclic macrocycle. Central to the approach is that a portion of the bicyclic molecule acts as a ligand for a transition metal ion that mediates covalent bond formation through one or other macrocyclic cavity, depending on the ligand's orientation, making a mechanical bond. The ligand can then rotate so that the transition metal can catalyze the formation of a second axle through the other macrocycle. Using this strategy with the Cu(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (the CuAAC reaction) generates a [3]rotaxane with two identical axles in up to 86% yield. [3]Rotaxanes with two different axles threaded through the macrobicyclic rings can also be created using a single template site, either by having copper(I) sequentially form both mechanical bonds (via the CuAAC reaction) using different sets of building blocks for each axle or by using two different reactions catalyzed by two different metal ions: a palladium(II)-mediated alkyne homocoupling to assemble the first thread through one cavity, followed by a copper(I)-mediated CuAAC reaction to form the second axle through the other ring.

Catalytic "active-metal" template synthesis of [2]rotaxanes, [3]rotaxanes, and molecular shuttles, and some observations on the mechanism of the cu(i)-catalyzed azide-alkyne 1,3-cycloaddition.

A synthetic approach to rotaxane architectures is described in which metal atoms catalyze covalent bond formation while simultaneously acting as the template for the assembly of the mechanically interlocked structure. This "active-metal" template strategy is exemplified using the Huisgen-Meldal-Fokin Cu(I)-catalyzed 1,3-cycloaddition of azides with terminal alkynes (the CuAAC "click" reaction). Coordination of Cu(I) to an endotopic pyridine-containing macrocycle allows the alkyne and azide to bind to metal atoms in such a way that the metal-mediated bond-forming reaction takes place through the cavity of the macrocycle--or macrocycles--forming a rotaxane. A variety of mono- and bidentate macrocyclic ligands are demonstrated to form [2]rotaxanes in this way, and by adding pyridine, the metal can turn over during the reaction, giving a catalytic active-metal template assembly process. Both the stoichiometric and catalytic versions of the reaction were also used to synthesize more complex two-station molecular shuttles. The dynamics of the translocation of the macrocycle by ligand exchange in these two-station shuttles could be controlled by coordination to different metal ions (rapid shuttling is observed with Cu(I), slow shuttling with Pd(II)). Under active-metal template reaction conditions that feature a high macrocycle:copper ratio, [3]rotaxanes (two macrocycles on a thread containing a single triazole ring) are also produced during the reaction. The latter observation shows that under these conditions the mechanism of the Cu(I)-catalyzed terminal alkyne-azide cycloaddition involves a reactive intermediate that features at least two metal ions.