October 2021
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126 Reads
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7 Citations
A linear double pyridinium‐terminated thread comprising a central chalcone moiety is shown to provide two independent binding sites with similar affinity for cucurbit[7]uril (CB7) macrocycles in water as judged from NMR, UV‐Visible and fluorescence spectroscopies. Association results in [2] and [3]pseudorotaxanes, which are both pH and photosensitive. Switching from the neutral chalcone to the cationic flavylium form upon irradiation at 365 nm under acidic conditions provided an enhanced CB7 association (K1:1 increases from 1.2×10⁵ M⁻¹ to 1.5×10⁸ M⁻¹), limiting spontaneous on‐thread cucurbituril shuttling. This co‐conformational change in the [2]pseudorotaxane is reversible in the dark with kobs=4.1×10⁻⁴ s⁻¹. Threading the flavylium moiety into CB7 leads to a dramatic increase in the fluorescence quantum yield, from 0.29 in the free axle to 0.97 in the [2]pseudorotaxane and 1.0 in the [3]pseudorotaxane.