Host–guest Complex of a Water-soluble Cucurbit[6]uril Derivative with the Hydrochloride Salt of 3-amino-5-phenylpyrazole

Interaction between tetramethylcucurbit[6]uril and 3-amino-5-phenylpyrazole hydrochloride in aqueous solution has been investigated by using ¹H NMR spectroscopy, electronic absorption spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy, as well as by a single crystal X-ray diffraction determination. The ¹H NMR spectra analysis established a basic interaction model in which an inclusion complex with a host:guest ratio of 1:1 forms, in which the host selectively binds the phenyl moiety of the guest. Absorption spectrophotometric and fluorescence spectroscopic analysis in aqueous solution defined the stability of the host–guest inclusion complexes quantitatively as 6.8 × 10⁵ mol^? 1 L at pH 2.6; the interaction is pH dependent, decreasing as pH rises. The single crystal X-ray structure of the isolated inclusion complex shows the phenyl moiety of the guest inserted into the host cavity, which supports particularly the ¹H NMR spectroscopic study in solution. In the crystal structure of the inclusion complex, the host–guest interaction involves both inter- and intra-complex hydrogen bonding, forming 2:2 dimers that stack in one dimension as supramolecular tubes.     

Host–guest complexes of cucurbit[7]uril with albendazole in solid state

The inclusion complex of cucurbit[7]uril (CB7) and albendazole (ABZ) in solid state was prepared by freeze-drying. The formation of a host–guest complex was confirmed by microanalysis, ¹H-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and fourier transformed-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) techniques. The shifts in the NMR peaks supported the encapsulation from the propylthio and not the carbamate site, in agreement with the previously reported results in solution. The N₂ adsorption–desorption isotherms indicated no change in the calculated surface area or the pore size distribution for the unbound and CB7-bound ABZ solid drugs. Freeze-drying produced a system with a higher degree of amorphisation as confirmed by the X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) technique. Thermal analysis of the drug-loaded CB7 by using differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetry demonstrated the possibility of dehydration at temperature 100 °C beyond the melting point of unbound ABZ since no melting of the samples was observed until the CB7 itself begins to decompose around 300 °C. Putting it all together, the results supported that CB7 imparts significant thermal/physical stability on the ABZ drug in the solid state.     

Host–guest complexes of the antituberculosis drugs pyrazinamide and isoniazid with cucurbit[7]uril

The potential use of cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) as an excipient in oral formulations for improved drug physical stability or for improved drug delivery was examined with the antituberculosis drugs pyrazinamide (pyrazine-2-carboxamide) and isoniazid (isonicotinohydrazide). Both drugs form 1:1 host–guest complexes with CB[7] as determined by ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry and molecular modelling. Drug binding is stabilised by hydrophobic effects between the pyridine and pyrazine rings of isoniazid and pyrazinamide, respectively, to the inside cavity of the CB[7] macrocycle as well as hydrogen bonds between the hydrazide and amide groups of each drug to the CB[7] carbonyl portals. At pH 1.5, isoniazid binds CB[7] with a binding constant of 5.6 × 10⁵ M^?1, whilst pyrazinamide binds CB[7] at pH 7 with a much smaller binding constant (4.8 × 10³ M^?1). Finally, CB[7] prevents drug melting through encapsulation. Where previously pyrazinamide displays a typical melting point of 189 °C and isoniazid 171 °C, by differential scanning calorimetry, no melting or degradation at temperatures up to 280 °C is observed for either drug once bound by CB[7].     

Synthesis and Crystal Structure of a Binuclear Gadolinium(III) Complex Bridged by Cucurbit[6]uril

Cucurbit[6]uril (Q6, Figure 1) is a macrocyclic ligand with interesting complexing properties. In contrast to other macrocyclic ligands, such as crown ethers, cryptands or calixarenes, this ligand has a rigid structure offering a hollow core of about 5.5 …     

Smart Materials Based on Synthetic Host Molecules: The Role of Host–Guest Chemistry in the Fabrication and Application

Stimuli-responsive or smart materials have recently shown a significant impact on the frontier of material science and engineering. The exponential development of synthetic host molecules (SHMs) over the last decades and their corresponding host–guest chemistry, have empowered researchers with new opportunities to design and construct tailored or guest-specific smart materials. In this Minireview, we present the recent advancements in synthetic host based smart materials, ranging from the fabrication strategies to the state-of-art applications including adsorption, separation, luminescence, self-healing and actuation. The role that the host–guest chemistry plays in these systems is highlighted throughout to give a better prospective of the available possibilities for emerging materials of future economies.     

A Visible–Near-Infrared Light-Responsive Host–Guest Pair with Nanomolar Affinity in Water

The discovery of stimuli-responsive high affinity host–guest pairs with potential applications under biologically relevant conditions is a challenging goal. This work reports a high-affinity 1:1 complex formed between cucurbit[8]uril and a water-soluble photochromic diarylethene derivative. It was found that, by confining the open isomer within the cavity of the receptor, a redshift in the absorption spectrum and an enhancement of the photocyclization quantum yield from Φ=0.04 to Φ=0.32 were induced. This improvement in the photochemical performance enables quantitative photocyclization with visible light that, together with the near-infrared light-induced ring-opening reaction and the 100-fold selectivity for the closed isomer, confirms this as an outstanding light-responsive affinity pair.     

Estimation of the Free Energy of the Supramolecular Effect on Host–Guest Complex Formation between Solid tert}-Butylcalix[4]arene and Vapors of Organic Compounds

The free energy of the supramolecular effect was estimated by the difference of the free energy of the solid host-guest complex formation between the vapor guest and the solid tert-butylcalix[4]arene ( 1) and the free energy of the guest solvation in toluene. These thermodynamic parameters were obtained from the vapor sorption isotherms of the guests with various molecular structure by solid 1 and limiting activity coefficients of the guests in toluene determined by headspace gas chromatographic analysis. The supramolecular effect was found to decrease slightly with the increase of the guest molecular size.     

Tuning the Intercage Distance in Charge-Regulated Blackberry-Type Assemblies through Host–Guest Chemistry

Charged or neutral adamantane guests can be encapsulated into the cavity of cationic metal–organic M₆L₄ (bpy-cage, M=Pd^II(2,2′-bipyridine), L=2,4,6-tri(4-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine) cages through hydrophobic interaction. These encapsulations can provide an approach to control the net charge on the resulting cage–guest complexes and regulate their charge-dominated assembly into hollow spherical blackberry-type assemblies in dilute solutions: encapsulation of neutral guests will hardly influence their self-assembly process, including the blackberry structure size, which is directly related to the intercage distance in the assembly; whereas encapsulating negatively (positively) charged guests resulted in a shorter (longer) intercage distance with larger (smaller) assemblies formed. Therefore, the host–guest chemistry approach can be used to tune the intercage distance accurately.     

Analysis of Solid-State Luminescence Emission Amplification at Substituted Anthracenes by Host–Guest Complex Formation

Small robust organic molecules showing solid-state luminescence are promising candidates for optoelectronic materials. Herein, we investigate a series of diphenylphosphanyl anthracenes [9-PPh₂-10-R-(C₁₄H₈)] and their sulfur oxidised analogues. The oxidation causes drastic changes in the molecular structure as the new orientation of the bulky (S)PPh₂ substituent induces a strong butterfly bent structure of the anthracene core, which triggers a strong bathochromic shift resulting in a green solid-state fluorescence. As the emission properties change only slightly upon aggregation the origin of the emission is attributed to a typical monomer fluorescence. The host–guest complexes of [9-(S)PPh₂-10-Ethyl-(C₁₄H₈)] with four basic arenes reveal an emission enhancement up to five-times higher quantum yields compared to the pure host. Less interchromophoric interactions and a restriction of intramolecular motion within the host molecules due to fixation by weak C−H⋅⋅⋅π interactions with the co-crystallised arene are responsible for that emission enhancement.     

Using Gas-Phase Guest–Host Chemistry to Probe the Structures of b Ions of Peptides

Middle-sized b _n (n????5) fragments of protonated peptides undergo selective complex formation with ammonia under experimental conditions typically used to probe hydrogen?Cdeuterium exchange in Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS). Other usual peptide fragments like y, a, a*, etc., and small b _n (n????4) fragments do not form stable ammonia adducts. We propose that complex formation of b _n ions with ammonia is characteristic to macrocyclic isomers of these fragments. Experiments on a protonated cyclic peptide and N-terminal acetylated peptides fully support this hypothesis; the protonated cyclic peptide does form ammonia adducts while linear b _n ions of acetylated peptides do not undergo complexation. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations on the proton-bound dimers of all-Ala b ₄ , b ₅ , and b ₇ ions and ammonia indicate that the ionizing proton initially located on the peptide fragment transfers to ammonia upon adduct formation. The ammonium ion is then solvated by N⁺-H??O H-bonds; this stabilization is much stronger for macrocyclic b _n isomers due to the stable cage-like structure formed and entropy effects. The present study demonstrates that gas-phase guest?Chost chemistry can be used to selectively probe structural features (i.e., macrocyclic or linear) of fragments of protonated peptides. Stable ammonia adducts of b ₉ , b ₉ -A, and b ₉ -2A of A₈YA, and b ₁₃ of A₂₀YVFL are observed indicating that even these large b-type ions form macrocyclic structures.     

Host–guest interactions of a twisted cucurbit[15]uril with paraquat derivatives and bispyridinium salts

Host–guest complexations of a twisted cucurbit[15]uril with some paraquat derivatives and bispyridinium salts in aqueous solution are investigated by nuclear magnetic resonance, UV–vis spectrometry and isothermal titration calorimetry. These complexations are mainly enthalpy-driven.     

Effect of the Composition of the Water–Dimethyl Sulfoxide Solvent on the Thermodynamics of the Formation of the [Ag(18-Crown-6)]+Complex

The effect of a water–dimethyl sulfoxide solvent (X _DMSO= 0–0.97, where X _DMSOis the mole fraction of DMSO) on the thermodynamics of complexation between Ag⁺and 18-crown-6 and the solvation of all reagents involved in this equilibrium were studied. In aqueous solutions, the complex is stable mainly because of the enthalpy contribution to _r G°. For X _DMSO> 0.3, the contributions from entropy and enthalpy become comparable in magnitude, but they are opposite in sign. In the binary solvent, the complex is most stable at X _DMSO= 0.2 to 0.3. Analysis of the enthalpy characteristics of reagent solvation showed that this solvent effect was due to the superposition of two opposite solvation contributions occurring with an increase in the DMSO concentration in the binary solvent, namely, the destabilization of the ligand solvate sphere and the formation of stable Ag⁺complexes with DMSO.     

How Does Solvation Affect the Binding of Hydrophilic Amino Saccharides to Cucurbit[7]uril with Exceptional Anomeric Selectivity?

Cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) is known to bind strongly to hydrophilic amino saccharide guests with exceptional α‐anomer selectivities under aqueous conditions. Single‐crystal X‐ray crystallography and computational methods were used to elucidate the reason behind this interesting phenomenon. The crystal structures of protonated galactosamine (GalN) and glucosamine (GluN) complexes confirm the inclusion of α anomers inside CB[7] and disclose the details of the host–guest binding. Whereas computed gas‐phase structures agree with these crystal structures, gas‐phase binding free energies show preferences for the β‐anomer complexes over their α counterparts, in striking contrast to the experimental results under aqueous conditions. However, when the solvation effect is considered, the binding structures drastically change and the preference for the α anomers is recovered. The α anomers also tend to bind more tightly and leave less space in the CB[7] cavity toward inclusion of only one water molecule, whereas loosely bound β anomers leave more space toward accommodating two water molecules, with markedly different hydrogen‐bonding natures. Surprisingly, entropy seems to contribute significantly to both anomeric discrimination and binding. This suggests that of all the driving factors for the strong complexation of the hydrophilic amino saccharide guests, water mediation plays a crucial role in the anomer discrimination.     

Phase Diagram of the Benzene–Dinitratotetrapyridinecopper(II) (Guest–Host) System and Thermodynamic Parameters for the Hostβ2Guest Clathrate Dissociation

In the first part of the work, thephase diagram of the benzene -ndash;[CuPy⁴(NO³)²] system has beendetermined in the -100 to +200 °C temperaturerange using DTA and solubility techniques. The onlycompound found in the system is the[CuPy⁴(NO³)²] 2C⁶H⁶clathrate. It is stable up to a temperature of+104.2(5) °C at which it melts incongruently togive liquid and the solid [CuPy⁴(NO³)²]host phase. At 146.1(5) °C exfoliation into twoliquid phases is observed, with the composition of themonotectic point being close to that of the clathrate.In the second part of the work, thermodynamicparameters of the clathrate dissociation have beendetermined from benzene vapour pressure strainmeasurements. For the process1/2 [CuPy⁴(NO³)²]2C⁶H⁶(solid) = 1/2 [CuPy⁴(NO³)²] (solid) +C⁶H⁶ (gas) H° = 45.3(3) kJ/mole; S₂₉₈° = 126(1) J/(mole K); G₂₉₈° = 7.7(5) kJ/mole.     

A New Conformation of a Water Hexamer Chain and its Reversible Formation/Removal in the Host Channel by Gas–Solid Reaction

Crystal structure determinations of, in most cases, hydrated, alkali metal derivatives of the dicarboxylic acids, 2,2′-bipyridine-3,3′-dicarboxylic acid (H²BDC) and chelidamic acid (4-hydroxypyridine-2,6-dicarboxylic acid, H²CHEL) show numerous similarities, such as in the predominance of O-coordination in generating solid state polymers in which parallel arrays of the essentially planar ligand ring units are apparent, though not necessarily indicative of conventional π-stacking interactions, and some unanticipated differences. In particular, all species derived from chelidamic acid, including its diammonium compound, appear to be complexes of the partially deprotonated pyridone form of this ligand. In both systems, close contacts between atoms constituting the aromatic entities take a variety of forms depending upon the associated metal.     

Interaction of the t-butylcalix[4]arene Anion with Ammonium Cations in Acetonitrile: Host–Guest Complexes or exo Counterions? A Molecular Dynamics Investigation

We report a theoretical study of the NR4+salts (R = H; Me; Et) of the t-butylcalix[4]arenemonooxyanion L- inacetonitrile solution, to compare the endocomplexes NR4+ inside the cone of thehost) with the exo ones. For a given cation, wefind that the complexes display structures of similartype in the gas phase and in acetonitrile solution.Intrinsically, the endo forms are more stablethan exo ones, but they are less well solvated.As a result, exo complexes are predicted to bemore stable than the endo ones in acetonitrile.In the gas phase and in solution, the exocomplexes of NMe4+ and NEt4+display interesting examples of fluctional intimateion pairs, where the cation oscillates between theoxygen lower rim region of L- and exo stacking with the phenolic rings ofL-. Based on free energy perturbation calculations,we compare endo NH4+/NMe4+complexes and find that the hypotheticalNH4+ complex is more stable in acetonitrile solution.     

Mixed Micelles in the Presence of Macrocyclic Additives: A Host–Guest Conductometric Study

The conductances of sodium dodecylsulphate (SDS) + sodium decylsulfate (SDeS) and decyltrimethylammonium bromide (DeTAB) + tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTAB) over the entire mole fraction range of SDS (_SDS) or DeTAB (_DeTAB) were measured in water, 18-crown-6 ether + water (CR + W) and -cyclodextrin + water (CYC + W) mixtures at fixed 4 mM and 8 mM of CR or CYC in their respective binary mixtures at 30 °C. The conductivity plots for SDS + SDeS mixtures show a single break whereas two breaks are observed at most of the _DeTAB for DeTAB + TTAB mixtures. From the break in the conductivity data, the mixed critical micellar concentration (cmc) and degree of counter-ion association () were computed. The first break corresponds to the classical cmc of TTAB is termed as the first cmc (C₁) and the second break which is observed at concentrations about 4 times the first one, corresponding to the classical cmc of DeTAB and is considered to be the second cmc (C₂). The non-ideality in SDS + SDeS mixtures has been evaluated by using the regular solution theory and it has been observed that the mixture is close to ideal in the absence and presence of additives. The variation in C₁, C₂ and ₁, ₂ for DeTAB + TTAB has been discussed in terms of the mixed micelle formation which are predominantly rich in the TTAB and DeTAB monomers respectively.     

Voltammetric Investigation of Host–Guest Systems in the Absence of a Supporting Electrolyte

Journal of Inclusion Phenomena and Macrocyclic Chemistry - In the classic voltammetric approach to host--guest systems the investigations are carried out in excess of a supporting electrolyte,...