Container molecules based on imine type ligands

This chapter will give a short overview about container molecules, their synthesis and possible applications. The main focus is on those which are based on imine type ligands. These containers can be used for example for guest exchange, gas separation, as chemical sensors or for the stabilisation of white phosphorus under water. The described cages have wide openings or tightly closed ones. For one cage the reversible opening and closing is also described.

Coordination-driven self-assembly of truncated tetrahedra capable of encapsulating 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene

The design and synthesis of coordinative truncated tetrahedra is described. The coordination-driven self-assembly of a truncated tetrahedron was achieved using 90° organoplatinum acceptors and a hexapyridyl ligand with six-fold symmetry under mild conditions. This tetrahedron can act as a host toward 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene. The truncated tetrahedral structures and the host-guest complex were identified using multinuclear ((31)P and (1)H) NMR spectroscopy, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, X-ray crystallography, and pulsed-field-gradient spin-echo NMR, along with computational simulations.

Encapsulation, storage and controlled release of sulfur hexafluoride from a metal-organic capsule

A metal-organic cage is shown to bind SF(6)--the most potent greenhouse gas known--and to release it under well-defined conditions.

Anion binding in covalent and self-assembled molecular capsules

This critical review describes selected examples extracted from the extensive literature generated during the past 42 years on the topic of anion binding in molecular capsules. The goal of including anions in molecular capsules emerges from the idea of incorporating the traits exhibited by biological receptors into synthetic ones. At the outset of this research area the capsules were unimolecular. The scaffold of the receptor was designed to covalently link a series of functional groups that could converge into a cavity and to avoid its collapse. The initial examples involved the encapsulation of one monoatomic spherical anion. With time, the cavity size of the receptor was increased and encapsulation of polyatomic anions and co-encapsulation became a reality. Synthetic economy fueled the use of aggregates of self-complementary molecules rather than one large molecule as capsules. The main purpose of this review is to give a general overview of the topic which might be of interest to supramolecular or non supramolecular chemists alike (149 references).

Stoichiometric control of multiple different tectons in coordination-driven self-assembly: preparation of fused metallacyclic polygons

We present a general strategy for the synthesis of stable, multicomponent fused polygon complexes in which coordination-driven self-assembly allows for single supramolecular species to be formed from multicomponent self-assembly and the shape of the obtained polygons can be controlled simply by changing the ratio of individual components. The compounds have been characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.