Persistently folded circular aromatic amide pentamers containing modularly tunable cation-binding cavities with high ion selectivity.
In this work, we illustrated a novel design strategy that allows systematically tunable interior properties (effective cavity size, steric crowdedness, and hydrophobicity) contained within a novel class of shape-persistent aromatic pentamers to take place on a scale below 3 A. Such finely tunable structural features are complimented by experimentally observable functional variations in ion-binding potential. Results of the selective, differential binding affinities of three circular pentamers for Li(+), Na(+), K(+), Rb(+), and Cs(+), substantiated by metal-containing crystal structures and computational modeling, are detailed.
Qin
Bo
B
Department of Chemistry, 3 Science Drive 3, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543.
Ren
Changliang
C
Ye
Ruijuan
R
Sun
Chang
C
Chiad
Khalid
K
Chen
Xiuying
X
Li
Zhao
Z
Xue
Feng
F
Su
Haibin
H
Chass
Gregory A
GA
Zeng
Huaqiang
H
D000577:Amides / Q000737:chemistry*; D002412:Cations; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D008670:Metals / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular
D000577:Amides; D002412:Cations; D008670:Metals