Surfing π Clouds for Noncovalent Interactions: Arenes versus Alkenes

Recognition in the Domain of Molecular Chirality: From Noncovalent Interactions to Separation of Enantiomers

It is not a coincidence that both chirality and noncovalent interactions are ubiquitous in nature and synthetic molecular systems. Noncovalent interactivity between chiral molecules underlies enantioselective recognition as a fundamental phenomenon regulating life and human activities. Thus, noncovalent interactions represent the narrative thread of a fascinating story which goes across several disciplines of medical, chemical, physical, biological, and other natural sciences. This review has been conceived with the awareness that a modern attitude toward molecular chirality and its consequences needs to be founded on multidisciplinary approaches to disclose the molecular basis of essential enantioselective phenomena in the domain of chemical, physical, and life sciences. With the primary aim of discussing this topic in an integrated way, a comprehensive pool of rational and systematic multidisciplinary information is provided, which concerns the fundamentals of chirality, a description of noncovalent interactions, and their implications in enantioselective processes occurring in different contexts. A specific focus is devoted to enantioselection in chromatography and electromigration techniques because of their unique feature as "multistep" processes. A second motivation for writing this review is to make a clear statement about the state of the art, the tools we have at our disposal, and what is still missing to fully understand the mechanisms underlying enantioselective recognition.

Probing Noncovalent Interactions in [3,3]Metaparacyclophanes

Arene-arene interactions are fundamentally important in molecular recognition. To precisely probe arene-arene interactions in cyclophanes, we designed and synthesized (2,6-phenol)paracyclophanes and (2,6-aniline)paracyclophanes that possess two aromatic rings in close proximity. Fine-tuning the aromatic character of one aromatic ring by fluorine substituents enables investigations on the intramolecular interactions between the electron-rich phenol and aniline with tetra-H- and tetra-F-substituted benzene. pK_a measurements revealed that the tetra-F-template increases the acidity of the phenol (ΔpK_a = 0.55). X-ray crystallography and computational analyses demonstrated that all [3,3]metaparacyclophanes adopt cofacial parallel conformations, implying the presence of π-π stacking interactions. Advanced quantum chemical analyses furthermore revealed that both electrostatic interactions and orbital interactions provide the key contribution to the structure and stability of [3,3]metaparacyclophanes.

A Fullerene-Based Molecular Torsion Balance for Investigating Noncovalent Interactions at the C60 Surface

To investigate the nature and strength of noncovalent interactions at the fullerene surface, molecular torsion balances consisting of C₆₀ and organic moieties connected through a biphenyl linkage were synthesized. NMR and computational studies show that the unimolecular system remains in equilibrium between well-defined folded and unfolded conformers owing to restricted rotation around the biphenyl C-C bond. The energy differences between the two conformers depend on the substituents and is ascribed to differences in the intramolecular noncovalent interactions between the organic moieties and the fullerene surface. Fullerenes favor interacting with the π-faces of benzenes bearing electron-donating substituents. The correlation between the folding free energies and corresponding Hammett constants of the substituents in the arene-containing torsion balances reflects the contributions of the electrostatic interactions and dispersion force to face-to-face arene-fullerene interactions.

Crystal structure of catena-poly[[[(2-eth-oxy-pyrazine-κN)copper(I)]-di-μ2-cyanido] [copper(I)-μ2-cyanido]]

In the asymmetric unit of the title coordination compound, {[Cu(CN)(C4H3OC2H5N2)][Cu(CN)]} n , there are two Cu atoms with different coordination environments. One CuI ion is coordinated in a triangular coordination geometry by the N atom of the 2-eth-oxy-pyrazine mol-ecule and by two bridging cyanide ligands, equally disordered over two sites exchanging C and N atoms, thus forming polymeric chains parallel to the c axis. The other Cu atom is connected to two bridging cyanide groups disordered over two sites with an occupancy of 0.5 for each C and N atom, and forming an almost linear polymeric chain parallel to the b axis. In the crystal, the two types of chain, which are orthogonal to each other, are connected by cuprophilic Cu⋯Cu inter-actions [2.7958 (13) Å], forming two-dimensional metal-organic coordination layers parallel to the bc plane. The coordination framework is further stabilized by weak long-range (electrostatic type) C-H⋯π inter-actions between cyano groups and 2-eth-oxy-pyrazine rings.

Strong Short-Range Cooperativity in Hydrogen-Bond Chains

Chains of hydrogen bonds such as those found in water and proteins are often presumed to be more stable than the sum of the individual H bonds. However, the energetics of cooperativity are complicated by solvent effects and the dynamics of intermolecular interactions, meaning that information on cooperativity typically is derived from theory or indirect structural data. Herein, we present direct measurements of energetic cooperativity in an experimental system in which the geometry and the number of H bonds in a chain were systematically controlled. Strikingly, we found that adding a second H-bond donor to form a chain can almost double the strength of the terminal H bond, while further extensions have little effect. The experimental observations add weight to computations which have suggested that strong, but short-range cooperative effects may occur in H-bond chains.

Direct Experimental Evidence for Halogen-Aryl π Interactions in Solution from Molecular Torsion Balances

We dissected halogen-aryl π interactions experimentally using a bicyclic N-arylimide based molecular torsion balances system, which is based on the influence of the non-bonded interaction on the equilibria between folded and unfolded states. Through comparison of balances modulated by higher halogens with fluorine balances, we determined the magnitude of the halogen-aryl π interactions in our unimolecular systems to be larger than -5.0 kJ mol^-1 , which is comparable with the magnitude estimated in the biomolecular systems. Our study provides direct experimental evidence of halogen-aryl π interactions in solution, which until now have only been revealed in the solid state and evaluated theoretically by quantum-mechanical calculations.

Assessment of the Presence and Strength of H-Bonds by Means of Corrected NMR

The downfield shift of the NMR signal of the bridging proton in a H-bond (HB) is composed of two elements. The formation of the HB causes charge transfer and polarization that lead to a deshielding. A second factor is the mere presence of the proton-accepting group, whose electron density and response to an external magnetic field induce effects at the position of the bridging proton, exclusive of any H-bonding phenomenon. This second positional shielding must be subtracted from the full observed shift in order to assess the deshielding of the proton caused purely by HB formation. This concept is applied to a number of H-bonded systems, both intramolecular and intermolecular. When the positional shielding is removed, the remaining chemical shift is in much better coincidence with other measures of HB strength.