title: Dibenzodiaza-30-crown-10-appended bis(zinc porphyrin) tweezers: synthesis and crown-assisted chiroptical behaviour.
abstract: In our program for developing chirality manipulation systems, we synthesized bis(zinc porphyrin) 1, with a dibenzodiaza-30-crown-10 as a linker unit. Two structural features were examined. The aza-crown segment exhibited an intermolecular interaction with the zinc(ii) of the porphyrin, capable of causing aggregation to form spherical nanostructures, as inferred by concentration-dependency of (1)H NMR as well as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation. We also consider the crown-based conformation flexibility, in which accommodated K(+) tunes the porphyrin orientation into the tweezers conformation, assisting chirality induction upon complexation with chiral diamine 2. The circular dichroism (CD) intensity change essentially reached a plateau at a [(1R,2R)-2] : [1] ratio of 2 : 1 for which a 45% enhancement in the amplitude of CD spectra was observed compared to the K(+)-free conditions. Use of the crown linker of is not limited to promoting chirality induction with diamines in the presence of K(+); chiroptical probing of unprotected amino acids (Lys, His, Trp, and Phe) using 1 was attained through liquid (1 in CH(2)Cl(2))-liquid (the amino acids in 1 N KOH) two-phase extraction. The amphiphilic properties of the crown segment, as well as the K(+)-assisted tweezers conformation, make it possible to explore a potent way to develop chirality sensors for amino acids in water.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Saitama University, 255 Shimo-ohkubo, Sakura-ku, Saitama 338-8570, Japan.
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ishii
authors.forename: Toshiharu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshizawa
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kubo