Decorating beads with paramagnetic rings: synthesis of inorganic-organic [10^14]rotaxanes as shown by spin counting

Polymer beads have been used as the core of magnetic particles for around twenty years. Here we report studies to attach polymetallic complexes to polymer beads for the first time, producing beads of around 115 microns that are attached to 10^14 hybrid inorganic-organic [2]rotaxanes. The bead is then formally a [10^14] rotaxane. The number of complexes attached is counted by including TEMPO radicals within the thread of the hybrid [2]rotaxanes, and then performing spin-counting using EPR spectroscopy.