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Metal-Organic And Supramolecular Architectures Based On Mechanically Interlocked Molecules, Isurika Rosini Fernando

Dissertations

The focus of this work is on mechanically interlocked molecules (MIMs), which have unusual physicochemical and mechanical properties with potential applications in nano-scale/molecular devices and high strength materials.

Rotaxanes, for example, consist of an axle-like molecule threaded through a wheel-like molecule, with bulky groups at the two ends of the axle preventing the wheel from dissociating. The position of the wheel along the axle can be switched in a controllable and reversible manner by applying external stimuli, a feature that might lead to the next generation of computers. Molecularly woven materials (MWMs), another example of molecules with mechanically interlocked features, …