Molecular motion of donor-acceptor catenanes in waterElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c4ob02457e

In this article, we use 1 H NMR spectroscopy to study the spontaneous molecular motion of donor-acceptor [2]catenanes in water. Our data supports the hypothesis that conformational motion dominantly occurs through a pirouetting mechanism, which involves less exposure of hydrophobic surfaces than in a rotation mechanism. Motion is controlled by the size of the catenane rings and the arrangement of the electron-deficient and electron-rich aromatic units. In this article, we use 1 H NMR spectroscopy to study the spontaneous molecular motion of donor-acceptor [2]catenanes in water.