Synthesis of Novel Benzo-15-Crown-5-Tetheredβ-Cyclodextrins and Their Enhanced Molecular Binding Abilities by Alkali Metal Cation Coordination

Abstract

Two novel benzo-15-crown-5 tethered β-cyclodextrins 1 and 2have been synthesized by coupling substituted benzo-15-crown-5 with correspondingβ-cyclodextrin derivatives. Their inclusion complexation behavior withrepresentative guests, such as cyclohexanol, cyclohexane carboxylic acid, cyclohexaneacetic acid, sodium cyclohexane carboxylate, and potassium cyclohexane carboxylate,was investigated in aqueous solution by means of fluorescence spectrometry. As compared with parent β-cyclodextrin, benzo-15-crown-5 tethered β-cyclodextrins 1–2 display significantly enhanced molecular binding abilities and selectivities towards model substrates, especially towards substrates containing alkali-metal cations. These results indicate that, bearing two recognition sites in a single molecule, these supramolecular architectures can strongly enhance the molecular binding ability of parent β-cyclodextrin by the cooperative binding of the β-cyclodextrin cavity and the crown ether moiety. Possessing a shorter linker, crown ether-β-cyclodextrin 2 shows much higher binding affinity with guest molecules than crown ether-β-cyclodextrin 1, which may be attributed to the binding size and molecular multiple recognition behavior between host and guest.