In contrast, protons (1-3) on the dipyrromethene subunits showed resonances at  = 5.72, 5.68, and 6.76 ppm. These shifts result from the counterbalance between the deshielding effect of the attached macrocycle and the shielding effect of the interlocked partner. two macrocycles (Supplementary Fig. ), stabilizing the interlocked structure. The orientation of the thiophene units in 1 is similar to that in 1-Zn, but the metal-free macrocycles adopt a more planar conformation. Bond length analysis yielded high HOMA values (0.80 and 0.75) and small bond length alternations (s.d. = 0.0211, 0.0298 Å) for both macrocycles, indicating aromatic character. This was further supported by calculated ACID and 3D ICSS plots (Fig. ). The ¹H NMR spectrum of 1 (Fig. ) displayed similar resonance separations to 1-Zn, with most protons (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) slightly shifted upfield.