Molecular encapsulation

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Molecular encapsulation of a nitrobenzene bound within a hemicarcerand reported by Cram and coworkers in Chem. Commun., 1997, 1303-1304. Nitrobenzene bound within hemicarcerand from Chemical Communications (1997).jpg
Molecular encapsulation of a nitrobenzene bound within a hemicarcerand reported by Cram and coworkers in Chem. Commun., 1997, 1303-1304.
Container molecule. Green: Ga cluster, L = ligand, Container molecule GA cluster.png
Container molecule. Green: Ga cluster, L = ligand,

In supramolecular chemistry, molecular encapsulation is the confinement of a guest molecule inside the cavity of a supramolecular host molecule (molecular capsule, molecular container or cage compounds). Examples of supramolecular host molecule include carcerands and endohedral fullerenes. [1]

Contents

Reactivity of guests

An important implication of encapsulation is that the guest behaves differently from the way it would when in solution. The guest molecule tends to be unreactive and often has distinctive spectroscopic signatures. Compounds normally highly unstable in solution, such as arynes or cycloheptatetraene, have been isolated at room temperature when molecularly encapsulated.

Examples

One of the first examples of encapsulating a structure at the molecular level was demonstrated by Donald Cram and coworkers; they were able to isolate highly unstable, antiaromatic cyclobutadiene at room temperature by encapsulating it within a hemicarcerand. Isolation of cyclobutadiene allowed chemists to experimentally confirm one of the most fundamental predictions of the rules of aromaticity.

In another example the cage consists of a gallium tetrahedral cluster compound stabilized by 6 bidentate catechol amide ligands residing at the tetrahedron edges. The guest is a 16 electron and thus very reactive ruthenium metallocene (an organometallic catalyst) with a cyclopentadienyl ligand (red) and a 1,3,7-octatriene ligand (blue). The total charge for this anion is 11 and the counterions are 5 tetramethyl ammonium cations and 6 potassium cations. The ruthenium compound decomposes in water within minutes but encapsulated it survives in water for weeks.

Large metalla-assemblies, known as metallaprisms, contain a conformationally flexible cavity that allows them to host a variety of guest molecules. These assemblies have shown promise as agents of drug delivery to cancer cells.

An application of encapsulation is controlling reactivity, spectroscopy, and structure. For instance, excited state reactivity of free 1-phenyl-3-tolyl-2-proponanone (abbreviated A-CO-B) yields products A-A, B-B, and AB, which result from decarbonylation followed by random recombination of radicals A• and B•. Whereas, the same substrate upon encapsulation reacts to yield the controlled recombination product A-B, and rearranged products (isomers of A-CO-B). [2]

Other applications:

Alcohol

According to food chemist Udo Pollmer of the European Institute of Food and Nutrition Sciences in Munich, alcohol can be molecularly encapsulated in cyclodextrines, a sugar derivate. In this way, encapsuled in small capsules, the fluid can be handled as a powder. The cyclodextrines can absorb an estimated 60 percent of their own weight in alcohol. [3] A US patent has been registered for the process as early as 1974. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyclobutadiene</span> Chemical compound

Cyclobutadiene is an organic compound with the formula C4H4. It is very reactive owing to its tendency to dimerize. Although the parent compound has not been isolated, some substituted derivatives are robust and a single molecule of cyclobutadiene is quite stable. Since the compound degrades by a bimolecular process, the species can be observed by matrix isolation techniques at temperatures below 35 K. It is thought to adopt a rectangular structure.

Supramolecular chemistry refers to the branch of chemistry concerning chemical systems composed of a discrete number of molecules. The strength of the forces responsible for spatial organization of the system range from weak intermolecular forces, electrostatic charge, or hydrogen bonding to strong covalent bonding, provided that the electronic coupling strength remains small relative to the energy parameters of the component. While traditional chemistry concentrates on the covalent bond, supramolecular chemistry examines the weaker and reversible non-covalent interactions between molecules. These forces include hydrogen bonding, metal coordination, hydrophobic forces, van der Waals forces, pi–pi interactions and electrostatic effects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molecular recognition</span> Type of non-covalent bonding

The term molecular recognition refers to the specific interaction between two or more molecules through noncovalent bonding such as hydrogen bonding, metal coordination, hydrophobic forces, van der Waals forces, π-π interactions, halogen bonding, or resonant interaction effects. In addition to these direct interactions, solvents can play a dominant indirect role in driving molecular recognition in solution. The host and guest involved in molecular recognition exhibit molecular complementarity. Exceptions are molecular containers, including, e.g., nanotubes, in which portals essentially control selectivity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inclusion compound</span>

In host–guest chemistry, an inclusion compound is a chemical complex in which one chemical compound has a cavity into which a "guest" compound can be accommodated. The interaction between the host and guest involves purely van der Waals bonding. The definition of inclusion compounds is very broad, extending to channels formed between molecules in a crystal lattice in which guest molecules can fit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Host–guest chemistry</span> Supramolecular structures held together other than by covalent bonds

In supramolecular chemistry, host–guest chemistry describes complexes that are composed of two or more molecules or ions that are held together in unique structural relationships by forces other than those of full covalent bonds. Host–guest chemistry encompasses the idea of molecular recognition and interactions through non-covalent bonding. Non-covalent bonding is critical in maintaining the 3D structure of large molecules, such as proteins and is involved in many biological processes in which large molecules bind specifically but transiently to one another.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cucurbituril</span> Ring molecule able to store other molecules within itself

In host-guest chemistry, cucurbiturils are macrocyclic molecules made of glycoluril monomers linked by methylene bridges. The oxygen atoms are located along the edges of the band and are tilted inwards, forming a partly enclosed cavity (cavitand). The name is derived from the resemblance of this molecule with a pumpkin of the family of Cucurbitaceae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supramolecular assembly</span> Complex of molecules non-covalently bound together

In chemistry, a supramolecular assembly is a complex of molecules held together by noncovalent bonds. While a supramolecular assembly can be simply composed of two molecules, or a defined number of stoichiometrically interacting molecules within a quaternary complex, it is more often used to denote larger complexes composed of indefinite numbers of molecules that form sphere-, rod-, or sheet-like species. Colloids, liquid crystals, biomolecular condensates, micelles, liposomes and biological membranes are examples of supramolecular assemblies, and their realm of study is known as supramolecular chemistry. The dimensions of supramolecular assemblies can range from nanometers to micrometers. Thus they allow access to nanoscale objects using a bottom-up approach in far fewer steps than a single molecule of similar dimensions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cryptand</span> Cyclic, multidentate ligands adept at encapsulating cations

In chemistry, cryptands are a family of synthetic, bicyclic and polycyclic, multidentate ligands for a variety of cations. The Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1987 was given to Donald J. Cram, Jean-Marie Lehn, and Charles J. Pedersen for their efforts in discovering and determining uses of cryptands and crown ethers, thus launching the now flourishing field of supramolecular chemistry. The term cryptand implies that this ligand binds substrates in a crypt, interring the guest as in a burial. These molecules are three-dimensional analogues of crown ethers but are more selective and strong as complexes for the guest ions. The resulting complexes are lipophilic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Achim Müller</span> German scientist (1938–2024)

Achim Müller was a German chemist. He was Professor Emeritus at the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bielefeld.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carcerand</span> Molecule which completely entraps another within itself

In host–guest chemistry, a carcerand is a host molecule that completely entraps its guest so that it will not escape even at high temperatures. This type of molecule was first described in 1985 by Donald J. Cram and coworkers. The complexes formed by a carcerand with permanently imprisoned guests are called carceplexes.

In chemistry, a resorcinarene is a macrocycle, or a cyclic oligomer, based on the condensation of resorcinol (1,3-dihydroxybenzene) and an aldehyde. Resorcinarenes are a type of calixarene. Other types of resorcinarenes include the related pyrogallolarenes and octahydroxypyridines, derived from pyrogallol and 2,6-dihydroxypyridine, respectively.

In chemistry, transfer hydrogenation is a chemical reaction involving the addition of hydrogen to a compound from a source other than molecular H2. It is applied in laboratory and industrial organic synthesis to saturate organic compounds and reduce ketones to alcohols, and imines to amines. It avoids the need for high-pressure molecular H2 used in conventional hydrogenation. Transfer hydrogenation usually occurs at mild temperature and pressure conditions using organic or organometallic catalysts, many of which are chiral, allowing efficient asymmetric synthesis. It uses hydrogen donor compounds such as formic acid, isopropanol or dihydroanthracene, dehydrogenating them to CO2, acetone, or anthracene respectively. Often, the donor molecules also function as solvents for the reaction. A large scale application of transfer hydrogenation is coal liquefaction using "donor solvents" such as tetralin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organozinc chemistry</span>

Organozinc chemistry is the study of the physical properties, synthesis, and reactions of organozinc compounds, which are organometallic compounds that contain carbon (C) to zinc (Zn) chemical bonds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandwich compound</span> Chemical compound made of two ring ligands bound to a metal

In organometallic chemistry, a sandwich compound is a chemical compound featuring a metal bound by haptic, covalent bonds to two arene (ring) ligands. The arenes have the formula CnHn, substituted derivatives and heterocyclic derivatives. Because the metal is usually situated between the two rings, it is said to be "sandwiched". A special class of sandwich complexes are the metallocenes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organoruthenium chemistry</span>

Organoruthenium chemistry is the chemistry of organometallic compounds containing a carbon to ruthenium chemical bond. Several organoruthenium catalysts are of commercial interest and organoruthenium compounds have been considered for cancer therapy. The chemistry has some stoichiometric similarities with organoiron chemistry, as iron is directly above ruthenium in group 8 of the periodic table. The most important reagents for the introduction of ruthenium are ruthenium(III) chloride and triruthenium dodecacarbonyl.

Coordination cages are three-dimensional ordered structures in solution that act as hosts in host–guest chemistry. They are self-assembled in solution from organometallic precursors, and often rely solely on noncovalent interactions rather than covalent bonds. Coordinate bonds are useful in such supramolecular self-assembly because of their versatile geometries. However, there is controversy over calling coordinate bonds noncovalent, as they are typically strong bonds and have covalent character. The combination of a coordination cage and a guest is a type of inclusion compound. Coordination complexes can be used as "nano-laboratories" for synthesis, and to isolate interesting intermediates. The inclusion complexes of a guest inside a coordination cage show intriguing chemistry as well; often, the properties of the cage will change depending on the guest. Coordination complexes are molecular moieties, so they are distinct from clathrates and metal-organic frameworks.

A metal-centered cycloaddition is a subtype of the more general class of cycloaddition reactions. In such reactions "two or more unsaturated molecules unite directly to form a ring", incorporating a metal bonded to one or more of the molecules. Cycloadditions involving metal centers are a staple of organic and organometallic chemistry, and are involved in many industrially-valuable synthetic processes.

Topological inhibitors are rigid three-dimensional molecules of inorganic, organic, and hybrid compounds that form multicentered supramolecular interactions in vacant cavities of protein macromolecules and their complexes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supramolecular catalysis</span> Field of chemistry

Supramolecular catalysis is not a well-defined field but it generally refers to an application of supramolecular chemistry, especially molecular recognition and guest binding, toward catalysis. This field was originally inspired by enzymatic system which, unlike classical organic chemistry reactions, utilizes non-covalent interactions such as hydrogen bonding, cation-pi interaction, and hydrophobic forces to dramatically accelerate rate of reaction and/or allow highly selective reactions to occur. Because enzymes are structurally complex and difficult to modify, supramolecular catalysts offer a simpler model for studying factors involved in catalytic efficiency of the enzyme. Another goal that motivates this field is the development of efficient and practical catalysts that may or may not have an enzyme equivalent in nature.

Phosphanides are chemicals containing the [PH2] anion. This is also known as the phosphino anion or phosphido ligand. The IUPAC name can also be dihydridophosphate(1−).

References

  1. Yan Voloshin, Irina Belaya, Roland Krämer (2016). The Encapsulation Phenomenon Synthesis, Reactivity and Applications of Caged Ions and Molecules. Springer. ISBN   9783319277387.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. Kaanumalle, Lakshmi S (Oct 20, 2004). "Controlling Photochemistry with Distinct Hydrophobic Nanoenvironments". J. Am. Chem. Soc. 126 (44): 14366–14367. doi:10.1021/la203419y. PMID   15521751.
  3. Alcohol powder: Alcopops from a bag Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine , Westdeutsche Zeitung, 28 October 2004 (German)
  4. Preparation of an Alcohol Containing Powder, General Foods Corporation March 31, 1972
  1. ^ Cram, D. J.; Tanner, M. E.; Thomas, R., The taming of Cyclobutadiene Angewandte Chemie International Edition Volume 30, Issue 8, Pages 1024 - 1027 1991 Abstract
  2. ^ Stabilization of Reactive Organometallic Intermediates Inside a Self-Assembled Nanoscale Host Dorothea Fiedler, Robert G. Bergman, Kenneth N. Raymond Angewandte Chemie International Edition Volume 45, Issue 5, Pages 745 - 748 2006 Abstract
  3. Fraser Hof; Stephen L. Craig; Colin Nuckolls; Julius Rebek Jr. (May 3, 2002). "Molecular Encapsulation". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 41 (9): 1488–1508. doi:10.1002/1521-3773(20020503)41:9<1488::AID-ANIE1488>3.0.CO;2-G. PMID   19750648.