Construction and Function of Interpenetrated Molecules Based on the Positively Charged Axle Components

Abstract

Interpenetrated molecules have attracted increasing attention from chemists not only because of their intriguing architectures and topologies, but also as a result of potential applications in molecular machinery and nanotechnology. In this account we review recent efforts on the construction of interpenetrated molecules based on the molecular recognition toward some positively charged axle components in aqueous or organic medium. We mainly focus on guest molecules containing ammonium, anilinium, and pyridinium groups. The host molecules are cucurbiturils and crown ethers. 1 Introduction 2 Interpenetrated Molecules Based on Crown Ethers 2.1 Thermodynamics of Resulting Complexes Between Dibenzo-24-crown-8 Derivatives and 1,2-Bis(pyridinium)ethanes 2.2 Molecular Switches Based on Positively Charged Molecules and Crown Ethers 2.3 Interlocked Molecules Based on Positively Charged Molecules and Crown Ethers 3 Interpenetrated Molecules Based on Cucurbiturils 3.1 Reversible 2D Pseudopolyrotaxanes and their Applications in DNA Condensation 3.2 Pseudorotaxanes Based on Bipyridinium Derivatives and Cucurbiturils 3.3 Stabilization of Radical Cations in Pseudopolyrotaxanes Based on Cucurbituril and Polyaniline 4 Conclusion and Outlook