CHROMATOGRAPHY OF MECHANICALLY INTERLOCKED MOLECULAR-COMPOUNDS

Catenanes and rotaxanes are molecules composed of mechanically interlo cked components which are not linked to each other by covalent bonds, These molecular assemblies behave as discrete molecules with defined p roperties significantly different from those of the parent ''free'' co mponents. High-performance liquid chromatography has been employed suc cessfully to characterize some tetracationic catenanes and rotaxanes i ncorporating either cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) or cyclobis(paraqua t-4,4'-biphenylene) as the charged components and either hydroquinone- containing macrocycles or dumbbell-shaped entities as the neutral comp onents. in each case, significant differences in the retention times o f the mechanically interlocked molecular compounds, in comparison with those of their components as their ''free'' forms, were observed.