Issue 28, 2021

By-design molecular architectures via alkyne metathesis

Abstract

Shape-persistent purely organic molecular architectures have attracted tremendous research interest in the past few decades. Dynamic Covalent Chemistry (DCvC), which deals with reversible covalent bond formation reactions, has emerged as an efficient synthetic approach for constructing these well-defined molecular architectures. Among various dynamic linkages, the formation of ethynylene linkages through dynamic alkyne metathesis is of particular interest due to their high chemical stability, linearity, and rigidity. In this review, we focus on the synthetic strategies of discrete molecular architectures (e.g., macrocycles, molecular cages) containing ethynylene linkages using alkyne metathesis as the key step, and their applications. We will introduce the history and challenges in the synthesis of those architectures via alkyne metathesis, the development of alkyne metathesis catalysts, the reported novel macrocycle structures, molecular cage structures, and their applications. In the end, we offer an outlook of this field and remaining challenges.

Graphical abstract: By-design molecular architectures via alkyne metathesis

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
04 Apr 2021
Accepted
14 May 2021
First published
22 May 2021
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2021,12, 9591-9606

By-design molecular architectures via alkyne metathesis

S. Huang, Z. Lei, Y. Jin and W. Zhang, Chem. Sci., 2021, 12, 9591 DOI: 10.1039/D1SC01881G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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