Rotating Catalysts Are Superior: Suppressing Product Inhibition by Anchimeric Assistance in Four-Component Catalytic Machinery.

Three distinct four-component supramolecular nanorotors, prepared by varying the rotator's structure and keeping all other components constant, exhibit rotational frequencies that differ by almost 2 orders of magnitude. When the rotors were used as catalyst for two click reactions, the product yield correlated with the speed of the machine, e.g., 20% at 0.50 kHz, 44% at 20 kHz and 62% at 42 kHz. The kinetic effect on the product yield is attributed to the ability of the rotating catalysts to displace the product more efficiently from the active site at higher speed (anchimeric assistance). This mechanistic hypothesis was convincingly corroborated by a linear correlation between product yield and product liberation.