A route to a cyclobutane-linked double-looped system via a helical macrocycle.

Macrocycles built of carbazole and pyridine fragments with alkene/alkane linkers constitute a helical structure as documented structurally and spectroscopically. The 'solid-state' prearrangement observed for two C[double bond, length as m-dash]C bonds leads to unprecedented transformation to a cyclobutane in a head-to-tail (rtct) geometry with two macrocyclic loops in a perpendicular orientation.