Encapsulation enhanced dimerization of a series of 4-aryl-N-methylpyridinium derivatives in water: new building blocks for self-assembly in aqueous media.
The construction of supramolecular systems in aqueous media is still a great challenge owing to the limited sources of building blocks. In this study, a series of 4-aryl-N-methylpyridinium derivatives have been synthesized. They formed very stable host-guest (1:2) complexes with CB[8] in water (binding constants up to 10(14)  M(-2)) with the two guest molecules arranged in a head-to-tail manner and the complexes showed high thermostability, which was revealed by (1) H NMR and UV/Vis spectroscopic studies, ITC, and crystallographic analysis.
Laboratory of Materials Science, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 345 Lingling Road, Shanghai 200032 (China), Fax: (+86) 21-64166128.
Ying
Y
Zhang
Tian-You
TY
Zhou
Kang-Da
KD
Zhang
Jin-Ling
JL
Dai
Yuan-Yuan
YY
Zhu
Xin
X
Zhao
cucurbit[8]uril; dimerization; head-to-tail; host-guest systems; self-assembly