Chemists in the US have created a short chain of interlinked cyclic molecules, the first step towards an entirely new, flexible form of polymer. Fraser Stoddart and colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles have made self-assembling [3]catenanes - three macrocyclic molecules interlocked to form a short chain. The final aim is to create polycatenanes, which are expected to have very different properties to today's polymers, said Stoddart.
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