Record-breaking rotaxane prepared on polymer bead

A formal 10¹⁴ rotaxane has been synthesised by decorating a polymer bead with paramagnetic complexes using click chemistry.

Rotaxanes are an unusual type of molecular architecture in which a macrocycle is threaded and trapped onto a dumbbell-shaped molecule to create an interlocked complex. The macrocycle unit can freely rotate around the central template, enabling the rotaxane to act as a type of molecular machine.