Synthetic Approaches to Macrocyclic Molecular Knots

Abstract

Knots play important roles at the molecular scale as well as in our lives. Although more than 6 billion prime knots are predicted theoretically, only four knot topologies (3₁, 4₁, 5₁, and 8₁₉) have been synthesized with small molecules to date. This review summarizes the recent innovative synthetic strategies toward the elaborately braided molecular knots.