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The question that springs to my mind from this is 'could rings be interlinked?' I'm not very familiar with chemistry. Are there other instances where other mol

by Lerc 7y ago

The question that springs to my mind from this is 'could rings be interlinked?' I'm not very familiar with chemistry. Are there other instances where other molecules can interlink in a way that, while not having bonds between them cannot be separated without breaking the bonds of one or the other? At the very least it's fun to imagine a form of ringmail made of these.

Filligree 7y ago
It's fun to imagine. I'll admit I did as well, but you wouldn't want to wear it. Broken rings no doubt turn into nanotubes, and free carbon nanotubes have roughly the same properties as asbestos.
- skykooler 7y ago
  In this case, they wouldn't turn into nanotubes but rather nanowires. I have no idea what the properties of carbon nanowires are though.
  - logfromblammo 7y ago
    Depends on the bond pattern. Alternating single and triple bonds (polycarbyne or polyyne) would be arrow-straight, rigid, semiconducting, untwisting, and explosive in bulk. Triple C-C bonds are an open invitation for cross-linking. In order to be stable, they have to be capped with a less-reactive group than hydrogen. If you break a ring, and get a C18 with naked electrons instead of protons on the ends, that's going to react with something, quickly and probably energetically. That bond-bending energy has to go somewhere, too. If you break the ring, you're probably going to break the molecule near the antipode, too, giving you two highly reactive C9s, or a C10 and a C8. Like if you cut a bowstring at full draw, you're probably going to break one of the limbs of the bow.
theideaofcoffee 7y ago
Very much so. There are different synthetic methods that could be used to create these so called “catenanes”, from a slapdash wait-and-see process where the starting material is thrown together and by hope and statistics a product comes out of the reaction with two interlocked rings. Otherwise one could build up a reaction with a starting material in a shape that’s conducive to a ring structure then attempt complexation/liganding etc etc finish and close the rings so they interlock. For some interesting reading in self-assembling structures see: Hao Li et al. Quantitative self-assembly of a purely organic three-dimensional catenane in water, Nature Chemistry (2015). DOI: 10.1038/nchem.2392
- im3w1l 7y ago
  Would the rings tunnel through each other at a significant rate?

by Lerc 7y ago

Filligree 7y ago

It's fun to imagine. I'll admit I did as well, but you wouldn't want to wear it. Broken rings no doubt turn into nanotubes, and free carbon nanotubes have roughly the same properties as asbestos.

skykooler 7y ago
In this case, they wouldn't turn into nanotubes but rather nanowires. I have no idea what the properties of carbon nanowires are though.
- logfromblammo 7y ago
  Depends on the bond pattern. Alternating single and triple bonds (polycarbyne or polyyne) would be arrow-straight, rigid, semiconducting, untwisting, and explosive in bulk. Triple C-C bonds are an open invitation for cross-linking. In order to be stable, they have to be capped with a less-reactive group than hydrogen. If you break a ring, and get a C18 with naked electrons instead of protons on the ends, that's going to react with something, quickly and probably energetically. That bond-bending energy has to go somewhere, too. If you break the ring, you're probably going to break the molecule near the antipode, too, giving you two highly reactive C9s, or a C10 and a C8. Like if you cut a bowstring at full draw, you're probably going to break one of the limbs of the bow.

theideaofcoffee 7y ago

Very much so. There are different synthetic methods that could be used to create these so called “catenanes”, from a slapdash wait-and-see process where the starting material is thrown together and by hope and statistics a product comes out of the reaction with two interlocked rings. Otherwise one could build up a reaction with a starting material in a shape that’s conducive to a ring structure then attempt complexation/liganding etc etc finish and close the rings so they interlock. For some interesting reading in self-assembling structures see: Hao Li et al. Quantitative self-assembly of a purely organic three-dimensional catenane in water, Nature Chemistry (2015). DOI: 10.1038/nchem.2392

im3w1l 7y ago
Would the rings tunnel through each other at a significant rate?