Fig. 6.
Distributions of forward (pulling step, Lower) and reverse (relaxing step, Upper) works corresponding, respectively, to the breaking and the reforming of a single interaction within the folded [4]rotaxane in DMF (n = 96). These distributions were obtained from pulling–relaxing experiments in the near-equilibrium regime (loading rate of 103 pN·s−1). Gaussian fits of the raw data are superimposed with the histograms (bin size = 0.5 kBT). The forward and reverse works have the same value (red line) at W = 10 ± 2 kBT or 6 ± 1 kcal·mol−1.