Single-color pseudorotaxane-based temperature sensingElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Synthesis, crystallographic, NMR and UV-Vis details. CCDC reference numbers 780506-780508. For ESI and crystallographic data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: 10.1039/c0nj00541j

Colored pseudorotaxane solutions can be used to assess temperature changes over large temperature windows. The color intensity of our novel pseudorotaxane systems decreases gradually from −50 to +50 °C with no shift in absorption maximum, making these and similar pseudorotaxanes attractive candidates for single-wavelength colorimetric temperature sensors. The continuous and reversible change in optical absorption of charge-transfer based colored pseudorotaxane solutions over large temperature windows suggests that these systems could be exploited in novel temperature sensors.