Synthesis of urea picket porphyrins and their use in the elucidation of the role buried solvent plays in the selectivity and stoichiometry of anion binding receptors

Solvent effects in anion recognition

Anion recognition is pertinent to a range of environmental, medicinal and industrial applications. Recent progress in the field has relied on advances in synthetic host design to afford a broad range of potent recognition motifs and novel supramolecular structures capable of effective binding both in solution and at derived molecular films. However, performance in aqueous media remains a critical challenge. Understanding the effects of bulk and local solvent on anion recognition by host scaffolds is imperative if effective and selective detection in real-world media is to be viable. This Review seeks to provide a framework within which these effects can be considered both experimentally and theoretically. We highlight proposed models for solvation effects on anion binding and discuss approaches to retain strong anion binding in highly competitive (polar) solvents. The synthetic design principles for exploiting the aforementioned solvent effects are explored.

Study on Typical Diarylurea Drugs or Derivatives in Cocrystallizing with Strong H-Bond Acceptor DMSO

Diarylureas are widely used in self-assembly and supramolecular chemistry owing to their outstanding characteristics as both H-bond donors and acceptors. Unfortunately, this bonding property is rarely applied in the development of urea-containing drugs. Herein, seven related dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) complexes were screened from 12 substrates involving sorafenib and regorafenib, mainly considering the substitution effect following a robust procedure. All complexes were structurally confirmed by spectroscopic means and thermal analysis. Specially, five cocrystals with three deuterated, named sorafenib·DMSO, donafenib·DMSO, deuregorafenib·DMSO, 6·DMSO, and 7·DMSO were obtained. The crystal structures revealed that all host molecules consistently bonded with DMSO in intermolecular interaction in a 1:1 stoichiometry. However, further comparison with documented DMSO complexes and parent motifs presented some arrangement diversities especially for 6·DMSO which offered a counter-example to previous rules. Major changes in the orientation of meta-substituents and the packing stability for sorafenib·DMSO and deuregorafenib·DMSO were rationalized by theory analysis and computational energy calculation. Cumulative data implied that the planarization of two aryl planes in diarylureas may play a crucial role in cocrystallization. Also, a polymorph study bridged the transformation between these ureas and their DMSO complexes.

Selective Convergence to Atropisomers of a Porphyrin Derivative Having Bulky Substituents at the Periphery

Four kinds of possible atropisomers of a porphyrin derivative (1), having mesityl groups at one of the o-positions of each meso-aryl group, can be selectively converged to targeted atropisomers among the four isomers (αααα, αααβ, αβαβ, and ααββ) under appropriate conditions for each atropisomer. For example, protonation and subsequent neutralization of a free base porphyrin (H₂-1) induces a convergence reaction to the αβαβ atropisomer, H₂-1-αβαβ, from an atropisomeric mixture. The αααα isomer, H₂-1-αααα, was also obtained by heating a solution of H₂-1 in CHCl₃ in 60% isolated yield, probably owing to a template effect of the solvent molecule. Remarkably, when an atropisomeric mixture of its zinc complex, Zn-1, was heated at 70 °C in a ClCH₂CH₂Cl/MeOH mixed solvent, crystals composed of only Zn-1-αααα were formed. The hydrophobic space formed by the four mesityl groups in the αααα isomer can be used for repeatable molecular encapsulation of benzene, and the encapsulation structure was elucidated by powder X-ray diffraction analysis. Heating the solid of an atropisomeric mixture of Zn-1 to 400 °C afforded the ααββ isomer almost quantitatively. On the other hand, the solid of H₂-1-αααα can be converted by heating, successively to H₂-1-αααβ at 286 °C and then to H₂-1-ααββ at 350 °C.

Influence of meso-linker attachment on the formation of core···π interactions in urea-functionalized porphyrins

The ability to cover the face of a porphyrin macrocycle selectively is an attractive feature for concepts such as catalysis and anion binding that is reliant on porphyrin core interactions. Herein, we have synthesized a family of mono-urea functionalized porphyrin complexes with intent to investigate their potential to form core···π interactions selectively to one face of the porphyrin macrocycle. By altering the distance between the urea moiety and the porphyrin through direct linkage or introducing a linker group we can control the formation of the core interactions. This is clearly seen in the crystal structure of 1-phenyl-3-(2-([10,15,20-triphenylporphyrinato]zinc(II)-5-yl)phenyl)urea where a unique face capping effect is demonstrated. In the crystal of this complex, there is a hydrogen-bonding network between the urea group and the axial methanol ligand forming head-to-tail aggregates with the Zn–O axis all molecules pointing in one direction.

The Influence of Binding Site Geometry on Anion-Binding Selectivity: A Case Study of Macrocyclic Receptors Built on the Azulene Skeleton

An understanding of host-guest noncovalent interactions lies at the very heart of supramolecular chemistry. Often a minute change to the structure of a host molecule's binding site can have a dramatic impact on a prospective host-guest binding event, changing the relative selectivity for potential guest molecules. With the overall goal of aiding the rational design of selective and effective receptors for anions, we have studied the influence of small perturbations in binding site geometry for a series of five closely related 20-membered macrocyclic tetra-amide receptors, constructed from two building blocks from a pool of azulene-5,7-bisamide, azulene-1,3-bisamide, and dipicolinic bisamide units. The solid-state structures revealed that the conformational preferences of the free receptors are driven by the inherent preferences of the building blocks, yet in some cases the macrocyclic topology is able to over-ride these to promote pre-organized conformations favorable for anion binding. The solid-state structures of the chloride complexes of these receptors revealed that although all the receptors can adapt to binding to the challenging small Cl^- guest with all the NH groups, only receptors containing azulene-5,7-bisamide units form short and linear, and therefore strong, hydrogen-bonding interactions. These conclusions are further supported by studies in solution. Although all the receptors showed high affinities toward a series of anions (H₂ PO₄^- , PhCO₂^- , Cl^- , and Br^- ), even in a highly competitive polar medium (DMSO/25 % MeOH), only receptors containing azulene-5,7-bisamide units exhibited non-inherent selectivity for Cl^- over PhCO₂^- , breaking the Hofmeister trend of selectivity. The data presented herein highlight the privileged properties of the azulene-5,7-bisamide building block for binding to chloride anions and provide guidelines for the construction of selective and efficient anion receptors with prospective practical applications.

Catching the chloride: searching for non-Hofmeister selectivity behavior in systematically varied polyamide macrocyclic receptors

Searching for regularities in the large set of structurally diverse macrocyclic probes allowed us to determine the structural requirements for the selective recognition of chloride over more basic anions such as H₂PO₄⁻ or RCO₂⁻ by a putative anion receptor.

Synthesis and anion binding properties of porphyrins and related compounds

Over the last two decades the preparation of pyrrole-based receptors for anion recognition has attracted considerable attention. In this regard porphyrins, phthalocyanines and expanded porphyrins have been used as strong and selective receptors while the combination of those with different techniques and materials can boost their applicability in different applications as chemosensors and extracting systems. Improvements in the field, including the synthesis of this kind of compounds, can contribute to the development of efficient, cheap, and easy-to-prepare anion receptors. Extensive efforts have been made to improve the affinity and selectivity of these compounds and the continuous expansion of related research makes this chemistry even more promising. In this review, we summarize the most recent developments in anion binding studies while outlining the strategies that may be used to synthesize and functionalize these type of macrocycles.

[28]Hexaphyrin derivatives for anion recognition in organic and aqueous media

Hexaphyrin-based anion chemosensors are reported for the first time.

Anion recognition by oligo-(thio)urea-based receptors

Recent progress in the construction of metal-coordination-assisted and covalently connected oligourea receptors and their anion coordination chemistry is presented.

Developing a targeting system for bacterial membranes: measuring receptor-phosphatidylglycerol interactions with1H NMR, ITC and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

We report the development of a potential targeting system for bacterial membranes containing phosphatidylglycerol.

Towards alternatives to anodic water oxidation: basket-handle thiolate Fe(III) porphyrins for electrocatalytic hydrocarbon oxidation

Selective electrocatalytic oxidation of hydrocarbons to alcohols, epoxides or other (higher value) oxygenates should in principal present a useful complementary anodic half-cell reaction to cathodic generation of fuels from water or CO(2) viz. an alternative to oxygen evolution. A series of new basket-handle thiolate Fe(III) porphyrins have been synthesised and shown to mediate anodic oxidation of hydrocarbons, specifically adamantane hydroxylation and cyclooctene epoxidation. We compare yields obtained by electrochemical and chemical oxidation of the thiolate porphyrins and benchmark their behaviour against that of Fe(III) tetraphenyl porphyrin chloride and its tetrapentafluorophenyl analogue.

Atropisomerism and conformational aspects of meso-tetraarylporphyrins and related compounds

This review provides a comprehensive description of the atropisomerism of meso-di- and tetraarylporphyrins with substituents in ortho-positions of the aryl ring, as well as in corroles and in conveniently substituted phthalocyanines. Different methods of study were examined: X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy (both static and dynamic aspects), classical kinetics, HPLC and theoretical calculations. Then the four atropisomers, the tautomerism of the inner protons, the 'picket fence' concept, conformationally restricted meso-tetraarylporphyrins and the influence of the metal on the conformation were discussed based on 250 references.