We are interested in developing a fundamental understanding of the effect of interlocked/entwined molecular geometries within supra-/macro- molecular materials. To design the tools required, we synthesise mechanically interlocked structures using lanthanide-template strategies. The use of lanthanide metals as templates, allows us to exploit their unique photophysical and magnetic properties to probe the systems under study.
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We study the effect of the mechanical bond on kinetic and thermodynamic stability of such assemblies by using emission spectroscopy. The ‘antenna effect’, in which a lanthanide ion is excited via energy transfer from its surrounding ligands, can be used to excite lanthanide ions resulting in strong luminescence. The luminescence intensity can be altered by lanthanide interaction with an analyte.