A UK team has stumbled upon an efficient way to separately produce each member of an unusual mirror image pair of chemical systemsthat has eluded scientists for over four decades.1Stephen Goldup and Robert Bordoli at Queen Mary University of London have made planar mechanically chiral rotaxanes, which trap macrocyclic rings along the shaft of dumbbell molecules. Goldup now wants to apply these newly accessible asymmetric assemblies in catalysis, sensing and materials. ‘We think it’s time that the advantages of mechanical chirality are properly investigated and begin to play a role,’ he tells Chemistry World....
