Dynamic Combinatorial Libraries Based on Hydrogen-Bonded Molecular Boxes

Upper-Rim Monofunctionalisation in the Synthesis of Triazole- and Disulfide-Linked Multicalix[4]- and -[6]arenes

Covalently linked multiple calixarenes are valued in supramolecular chemistry. This work reports an easy and versatile synthetic route to covalently linked double and triple calix[4]arene and calix[6]arenes by a novel DMF-controlled selective alkylation of a convenient and readily available upper-rim dimethylaminomethyl-substituted tetrahydroxy and hexahydroxy calix[4]arene and -[6]arenes. Synthetic routes to upper-rim functionalised redox active disulfide-linked double-, tetra- and peptidohybrid-calixarenes employing either redox chemistry (CH₂ SH) or thiolates (CH₂ S^- ) are also opened up from the same key starting material.

A recognition-mediated reaction drives amplification within a dynamic library

A single, appropriately designed, recognition event targets and transforms one of two reactive members of an exchanging pool of compounds through a recognition-mediated irreversible cycloaddition reaction, altering dramatically the final composition and kinetic behaviour of the dynamic library.

Synthesis of phototrappable shape-shifting molecules for adaptive guest binding

We have designed and synthesized oligosubstituted bullvalenes 1 and 2 as adaptive molecules that can change their shapes in order to bind tightly to a suitable guest. By incorporation of a photolabile o-nitroveratryloxycarbonate (NVOC) group into bullvalenes 1 and 2, tightly binding species can be selectively isolated from a population of hundreds of interconverting structural isomers. Spontaneous strain-assisted Cope rearrangements allow these shape-shifting molecules to exist in a dynamic equilibrium of configurationally distinct valence isomers, as revealed by dynamic NMR and HPLC studies. When NVOC bullvalenes 1 and 2 were exposed to UV light, the cleavage of the NVOC group resulted in a mixture of static isomers of the corresponding bullvalone. Binding studies of NVOC bisporphyrin bullvalene 1 demonstrated that the dynamic isomeric equilibrium shifted in the presence of C(60), favoring configurations with more favorable binding affinities. Irradiation of a mixture of 1 and C(60) with UV light and isolation of the major static isomer yielded an isomer of bisporphyrin bullvalone with a binding affinity for C(60) that was ∼2 times larger than that of the nonadapted isomer bisporphyrin bullvalone 41.

Affinity chromatography in dynamic combinatorial libraries: one-pot amplification and isolation of a strongly binding receptor

We report the one-pot amplification and isolation of a nanomolar receptor in a multibuilding block aqueous dynamic combinatorial library using a polymer-bound template. By appropriate choice of a poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide)-based support, nonselective ion-exchange type behaviour between the oppositely charged cationic guest and polyanionic hosts was overcome, such that the selective molecular recognition arising in aqueous solution reactions is manifest also in the analogous templated solid phase DCL syntheses. The ability of a polymer bound template to identify and isolate a synthetic receptor via dynamic combinatorial chemistry was not compromised by the large size of the library, consisting of well over 140 theoretical members, demonstrating the practical advantages of a polymer-supported DCL methodology.

The Design and Synthesis of Acrylato and Imino Derivatives of Calix[4]arene for Applications in Static and Dynamic Combinatorial Libraries

The synthesis of novel calix[4]arene tetra-acrylates and the potential use of macrocyclic platforms in the development of static and dynamic combinatorial libraries (DCL) using reversible imine formationare described. Using such a macrocyclic platform in DCL formation results in a large number of library members while keeping the number of building blocks in the library to a minimum number.

Target-driven selection in a dynamic nitrone library

Nitrones undergo dynamic exchange in chloroform at room temperature through two mechanisms-hydrolysis and recombination or hydroxylamine addition/elimination; this dynamic exchange is harnessed to select a nitrone-based bis(amidopyridine) receptor for diacids from a group of four nitrones through its binding to a glutaric acid-based target.

Facile acetal dynamic combinatorial library

We herein report our first results on the use of simple acetalation chemistry in the service of dynamic combinatorial libraries (DCLs); the reaction between triethylene glycol and 4-nitrobenzaldehyde afforded a DCL of more than 15 cyclic and acyclic species; all of which were separated and characterized; the smaller macrocyclic compounds were successfully amplified by the use of ammonium ions.

Disulfides, Imines, and Metal Coordination within a Single System: Interplay between Three Dynamic Equilibria

We report a system in which three distinct dynamic linkages, disulfide (S-S), imine (C=N), and coordinative (N-->metal) bonds were shown to be capable of simultaneous reversible exchange. The "disulfide layer" of the system under study consists of two homo-disulfides, bis(4-aminophenyl) disulfide 1 and bis(4-methoxyphenyl) disulfide 2 that equilibrate in the presence of catalytic amount of triethylamine to favor the formation of a hetero-disulfide product, 4-aminophenyl-4'-methoxyphenyl disulfide 3. The addition of 2-formylpyridine and a metal salt strongly perturbed this 1+2<-->3 equilibrium through the formation of metal complexes incorporating disulfide 1 as a subcomponent. CuI perturbed the equilibrium by a factor of 3.3, and FeII by a factor of 179, in both cases in favor of the homo-disulfides. The disulfide equilibrium could be further modified, following metal-complex formation, by coordinative (transmetallation: substitution of FeII for CuI) or covalent (imine exchange: the substitution of one amine residue for another) exchange. Thus, although the three kinds of dynamic linkages were demonstrated to be mutually compatible, changes at one kind of linkage could be used to predictably perturb an equilibrium involving another.