Over the past two decades a vast array of interlocked and intertwined molecular compounds-specifically, catenanes, rotaxanes, and knots [1] -have been assembled using supramolecular assistance (templation [2] ) as the key element in their synthesis [3] under either kinetic [4] or thermodynamic [5] control. Although these synthetic protocols have been implemented more recently for the construction of more intricate variants, such as oligocatenanes, [6] molecular necklaces, [7] and cyclic daisy chains [8] to name but a few, the topological challenge of the de novo synthesis of Borromean ring compounds [9] still presents a considerable hurdle to be overcome. Our way of addressing this challenge is to employ recognition motifs to create initially stable ring-in-ring superstructures [10] which could serve as templates for subsequent catenation. Here, we report 1) the design and noncovalent synthesis of a prototype, mutually orthogonal, partially preorganized, ring-in-ring complex, together with 2) the solid-state characterization of the 1:1 complex in the context of the X-ray crystal structures of its two separate ring components, and 3) the solution-state behavior of the 1:1 complex.Previously, we have shown [11] that bisparaphenylene[34]crown-10 (BPP34C10) can encircle two dibenzylammonium (DBA ) ions simultaneously by locating the two NH 2 centers 6.9 ä apart in the polyether loops of BPP34C10 and relying upon N ÀH ¥¥¥ O hydrogen bonds to form a stable 1:2 (DBA & BPP34C10 ' DBA ) complex. Thus, it seemed not unreasonable to us that BPP34C10 might also be able to complex (Figure 1) with a suitably proportioned dicationic Figure 1. Employing precedent in the design and synthesis of a proposed 1:1 complex formed between BPP34C10 and 1-2 H 2 , together with an overlaid set of 70 co-conformations of BPP34C10 ¥ 1-2 H 2 sampled from the last 70 ps of a 100-ps MD experiment. macrocycle containing two NH 2 centers. After inspection of the solid-state superstructure [11] of the 1:2 complex formed between BPP34C10 and DBA , and construction of CPK space-filling molecular models, we concluded that the macrocycle 1-2 H 2 was a suitable candidate for further investigation. Our intuition was given a considerable boost by the results of the molecular dynamics (MD) calculations. [12] They predicted the existence of a stable co-conformation [13] in which the BPP34C10 ring encircles the dicationic macrocycle, such that the polyether loops surround the NH 2 centers, namely, the 1:1 (BPP34C10 ' 1-2 H 2 ) complex (illustrated in Figure 1) might constitute a discrete supermolecule.The synthesis (Scheme 1) of the dicationic macrocycle 1-2 H ¥ 2 PF 6 was achieved by employing a bis-Wittig reaction in the key cyclization step. The bisphosphonium salt [14] 2-H ¥ 3 PF 6 was protected (Boc 2 O/Et 3 N/MeOH) to give 3 ¥ 2 PF 6[15] M.Abstracts of Papers, Part 1, 222nd National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (Chicago, IL) 2001, MEDI 307.[16] Female Rhesus monkeys (body weight 4.0 ± 7.0 kg) were sedated with 10 mg kg À1 of ketamine ...