A [2]catenane has been constructed using an octahedral complex of the Ru(diimine)( 2+)(3) family as a scaffold. Two diimine chelates have been incorporated in a ring prior to the ruthenium(II) complexation reaction. The macrocyclic complex thus obtained has been subsequently threaded by a long linear fragment containing the third chelate. The rutheniuml(II)-complexed catenane, cyclized by ring-closing metathesis, is the first example of an interlocking ring system built around an octahedral tris-chelate complex.
Laboratoire de Chimie Organo-Minérale, UMR 7513 du CNRS, Université Louis Pasteur, Faculté de Chimie, 4, rue Blaise Pascal, 67070 Strasbourg Cedex, France.
