Templated dynamic synthesis of a [3]catenane

The self-assembly of a water-soluble [3]catenane from a library composed of two linear building blocks, both terminated by cysteine components, is promoted either by a high salt concentration or by the presence of spermine. The spermine-templated synthesis of the [3]catenane shows that such structures can exhibit strong binding interactions with a biologically relevant target in water under near-physiological conditions.