Visualizing the Sliding Motion of Dynamic Rotaxanes by Surface Wrinkles

作者：Shuzhen Yan, Mengling Yang, Xinlu Deng, Guoquan Liu, Xiaxin Gao, Shuai Chen, Lin Cheng, Tiantian Li, Tianjiao Ma, Mengda Xu, Jin Li, Zhaoming Zhang, Yang Li, Wei Yu, Xuzhou Yan, Xuesong Jiang · 发表于：Journal of the American Chemical Society · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1021/jacs.5c00968 · 被引用次数：10 · 研究领域：Advanced Materials and Mechanics、Supramolecular Chemistry and Complexes、Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications

Visualizing the sliding dynamics of a topological network can provide critical insight into determining the design and properties of mechanically interlocked materials. Although several auxiliary techniques have been proposed to infer the microscopic motion of rotaxanes, employing intuitive and convenient methods to explore the microscopic dynamics of a mechanically interlocked polymer remains a significant challenge. Herein, this work introduces a mechanically interlocked network (MIN) into the patterned surfaces for visualizing and regulating the sliding process of [2]rotaxane units through the evolution of surface wrinkles. Upon the photodimerization of the anthracene-functionalized polymer chain, the surface wrinkle can be formed after thermal treatment and subsequent cooling to room temperature. Specifically, the cross-linked films exhibit visible changes in wrinkle topography through the disruption of host-guest recognition by alkaline stimuli. Moreover, by leveraging the unique mechanical properties of surface wrinkles, we prolonged and amplified the originally extremely transient and difficult-to-detect sliding motion of rotaxane units in terms of time scale. Through statistical analysis of the changes in wrinkle morphology, we were able to correspondingly deconstruct the three processes of the rotaxane sliding motion: (I) unrestricted rapid sliding following host-guest dissociation; (II) restricted sliding; and (III) termination of sliding. The novel approach we prop...