Themed collection Mechanically Interlocked Materials

This review draws connections between top-down direct-ink-writing and bottom-up supramolecular designs. Examples of supramolecularly designed viscoelastic inks and perspectives of using supramolecular motifs for 3D printing have been discussed.

We review recent progress in molecular knotting, the chemistry of orderly molecular entanglements. As complex nanotopologies become increasingly accessible they may play significant roles in molecular design.

This review focuses on synthetic strategies, characterizations and application explorations of rotaxane-based mechanically interlocked polymers, including linear polyrotaxanes, polyrotaxane networks, and rotaxane dendrimers.

MIM-based MOFs have a promising future in the preparation of smart materials. The vast number of structural possibilities which offer their design are disclosed in this review.

Polycatenanes are a class of polymers that contain interlocked rings. This review explores the different polycatenane architectures with a focus on their synthesis, properties, simulation, and modelling.

This review discusses pillar[n]arene-based MIMs such as rotaxanes, catenanes, polyrotaxanes, single-component mechanically self-locked molecules, and supramolecular polymers.

We review recent progresses in the synthesis and the use of daisy chain architectures as molecular machines and stimuli-responsive materials.

An introduction to mechanically interlocked derivatives of single-walled carbon nanotubes: their main structural features, their potential advantages compared to covalent and supramolecular derivatives, how to synthesize them, and their most promising fields for application.

The year 2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the first reports of polyrotaxanes in the scientific literature.