A hydrogen bonded foldamer unit and an azobenzene unit have been incorporated into the linear component of a tristable [2]rotaxane to give rise to a doubly gated switching system tuned by the folding–defolding of the foldamer unit and the photo-initiated trans–cis isomerization of the azobenzene unit.
![Graphical abstract: A tristable [2]rotaxane that is doubly gated by foldamer and azobenzene kinetic barriers](http://hg.y866.cn/compound/lib/scimg/usr/1/C6CC02110G.jpg)
