Catenanes and threaded systems: from solution to surfaces.

Functional catenanes and threaded systems able to perform controllable mechanical motions are ideally suited for the design of molecular devices displaying mechanical, electronic, information or sensing functions. These systems have been extensively studied in solution phase and numerous examples of stimuli-driven molecular shuttles have been reported. However, for fully developing their potential applications, they must be interfaced with the macroscopic world. To achieve this objective, in the last few years catenanes and rotaxanes have been organized over surfaces in the form of chemisorbed monolayers or physisorbed monolayers, multilayers and thin films. This tutorial review summarizes the different techniques for the deposition on surfaces and characterization of switchable catenanes and rotaxanes, and highlights the properties of these new functional surfaces and their potential applications.