Synthesis and Ion Selectivity of Tetrakis[(N,N-dialkylaminocarbonyl) methoxy]homocalix[4]arenes

An attempted O-alkylation of the flexible macrocycle 1 withN,N-dialkylchloroacetamides in the presence of NaH, K₂CO₃ or Cs₂CO₃ gave only one pure stereoisomer 1,4-alternate-2a–c, while other possible isomers were not observed. In contrast, only an intractable mixture was obtained when Na₂CO₃ was used as base. The structural characterization of these products is discussed. The two-phase solvent extraction data indicated that tetrakis(N,N-dialkylaminocarbonyl) derivatives 2b–c show strong alkali metal cation affinity and the extractabilities are much higher than that for the corresponding calix4]arene tetraethyl ester 4 and homocalix4]arene tetraethyl ester 3. High Li⁺ and Na⁺ extractabilities were observed for tetrakis(N,N-diethylaminocarbonyl) derivative 2b. However, no significant high ion selectivity for alkali metal cations was observed in tetraamide 2b. ¹H-NMR titration of tetraamide 2b with KSCN clearly demonstrates that a 1:1 complex is formed with retention of theoriginal symmetry to be conformationally frozen on the NMR time scale.