Scheme 1.

Sauvage's synthesis of a [2]catenane (CuI 3) by passive62 metal‐template synthesis. The phenanthroline‐CuI system formed the basis for the synthesis of several other mechanically interlocked molecular types (rotaxanes, trefoil knot, Solomon link).61 All of the cap‐and‐stick structures shown in this Review are X‐ray crystal structures produced from coordinates taken from the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD).