Metathesis

Archaeology

Organic chemistry

Knot (papermaking)

Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Stereochemistry

Crystallography

History

Knot theory

Engineering

Catalysis

Alkene

Chemistry

Trefoil knot

Trefoil

Ring-closing metathesis

Polymerization

Chemical engineering

Polymer

Biochemistry

Journal of the American Chemical Society

We report the two-step synthesis of a molecular trefoil knot in 90% overall yield through the self-assembly of a 12-component trimeric circular zinc helicate followed by ring closing metathesis of six pendant alkene chains. Both the trimeric circular helicate intermediate and the resulting trefoil knot were characterized by NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and X-ray crystallography.

Molecular Trefoil Knot from a Trimeric Circular Helicate