ELECTROCHEMICALLY INDUCED MOLECULAR MOTIONS IN PSEUDOROTAXANES - A CASE OF DUAL-MODE (OXIDATIVE AND REDUCTIVE) DETHREADING

The electrochemical and spectroscopic properties of a pseudorotaxane f ormed in acetonitrile solution by self-assembly of a wire-type electro n donor based on the tetrathiafulvalene unit and the cyclobis(paraquat -p-phenylene) tetracationic electron acceptor have been investigated. We show that a) reversible dethreading/rethreading cycles of the pseud orotaxane can be performed by either oxidation and successive reductio n of the electron-donor wire or reduction and successive oxidation of the electron-accepting tetracationic cyclophane, and b) because of thi s special behavior, the input (electrochemical)/output (absorption spe ctrum) characteristics of this molecular-level system correspond to th ose of an XNOR logic gate.