Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.130, No.6, 1836-1836, 2008
A chemically-driven molecular information ratchet
A chemically driven molecular information ratchet is described. The equilibrium macrocycle distribution in a [2]rotaxane is driven away from its 50:50 population of thread binding sites to a 33:67 ratio by benzoylation under the influence of a chiral catalyst The reaction corresponds to a dynamic kinetic resolution of rotaxane co-conformers that interconvert through shuttling.