Calixarene-based chiral structures

The chirality of the compounds discussed so far, especially of those in Section 2 is caused entirely by the chirality of their substituents. Due to their nonplanar shape, calixarenes offer various additional possibilities to produce chiral derivatives, the chirality of which is not based on a chiral group or subunit but on the absence of a symmetry plane, an inversion center, or an alternating axis in the molecule as a whole. This means, that opening of the macrocyclic structure would lead to an achiral linear molecule. Such molecules may therefore be called inherently chiral which should not be confused with the term intrinsically chiral,110 A graph whose chirality is independent of its embedding in the three-dimensional space is intrinsically chiral, while the inherent chirality defined above is due to the three-dimensional structure. 

Three equivalents of a calix[4]arene derivative, diametrically substituted at its upper rim with two melamine units, have also been demonstrated to yield well-defined box-like assemblies on interaction with six equivalents of 5,5-diethylbar-bituric acid. The product, which is based on an extended rosette motif, consists of nine different components held together by 36 hydrogen bonds. It is stable in apolar solvents and remains so even at very low concentrations. Further, the structure remains intact in the solid state, as confirmed by an X-ray diffraction study. In an extension of this study, three enantio-pure calix[4]arene-dimelamine derivatives were employed for a parallel study. In this instance, the chiral information in the individual calixarene derivatives proved successful in controlling the conformation of the final assembly - a homochiral supramolecular entity was the result. 

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