Calixarenes cone conformation

Calixarenes are cyclophane-type molecules, in which at least four aromatic units are joined via methylene or related groups [9]. It is known that calix[4]arenes with hydroxy groups in the 2-position normally prefer a conelike conformation, however, depending on the substituents a more or less rapid dynamic interconversion with three possible partial cone conformations is possible (Fig. 1) [9, 10]. 

A different synthetic access to a 1 -metallacyclopropene, which can be a versatile organometallic synthon, is displayed in Scheme 33. The mono-alkyne derivatives of W(IV)-calix[4]arene are easily accessible through the thermal displacement of cyclohexene from 32 using the appropriate acetylenes. The reaction led to complexes 34 and 172-174. The proposed 3-metallacyclopropene has been confirmed from the spectroscopic and the X-ray data. The H NMR data reveal a cone conformation of the calixarene with a four-fold symmetry, for which the... 

Calixarenes, when in their cone-conformation (54), represent versatile host systems for metalated container molecules and many examples have been reported in the literature (55-61). Reinaud and coworkers have carried out extensive work concerned with calix[6]arenes that are functionalized at the small rim by nitrogen arms (62), aiming to reproduce the hydro-phobic binding site of mononuclear zinc and copper metalloen-zymes. A recent example is the calix[6]arene ligand L1 (Fig. 3), in which a tris(2-methylpyridyl)amine unit covalently caps the calixarene small rim (63). The ligand forms copper complexes of... 

Interestingly, the macrocycles can adopt two different conformations A and B (Fig. 34), which are reminiscent of the partial cone and cone conformations of the calixarenes. A detailed... 

Calixarene and their resorcinarene relatives are similar to CDs with respect to their ability to form a concave cavity in which guests can bind. Calixarenes are conformationally more flexible than the resorcinarenes, and depending on the substituents attached to their wider upper rim or to the narrower lower rim they may exist in a highly-symmetric bowl-shaped, so-called cone conformation or in several other conformations that do not exhibit an as perfect cavity as does the cone conformation (Scheme 9). Cationic guests, such as alkali metal or ammonium ions. 

Cuest-Induced Changes in Membrane Permeability. Calixarene derivatives are also used for sensing systems other than ISEs or optodes. Recently, a systematic investigation on the control of membrane permeability by use of oriented monolayers composed of calixarene esters was carried out. The hosts used were short alkyl chain esters of calix[6]arene [28 (R = Bu )] and calix[4]arene [26 (R = Bu ), 30 both cone conformers]. The permeabilities through the intermo-lecular voids of these monolayers were evaluated by cyclic voltammetry, as described earlier for oriented membranes of nucleobase derivatives. Cationic, anionic, and neutral electroactive compounds were used as the permeability markers. The voltammetric measurements were carried out either for a monolayer... 

Hydrogen bonds keeping most calixarene structures in the cone conformation can also be characterized by the position of the vOH band in IR spectra and the hydroxyl proton signal in the NMR spectra both are shifted with respect to the corresponding values for the free phenolic OH [lc]. 

Calixarene derivatives involving crown ethers like 233 exhibit complexation ofalkali or ammonium cations typical of crown ethers that is especially effective in the partial cone conformation [26]. By a proper functionalization selective synthetic receptors for specific hosts have been developed. For instance, two 2,4-diaminotriazine groups at diametrical positions of the upper rim of a... 

When these crowned, ionizable calixarenes contain no t-Bu groups in the 4-position (MCI1, MCI2, MCI3, MCI4, and MCI5), the increased molecular flexibility causes the extraction to shift to higher pH (cone conformer), the selectivity for Ba2+ to disappear (partial cone conformer) or to be less pronounced (1,3-alternate conformer).141... 

Shinkai and coworkers have capitalized on this conformation flexibility in their designs of several pyrene-derivatized calixarene chemosensors. The rotated phenyl ring of the partial cone conformer of 37 allows two pyrene units to more easily interact by decreasing steric hindrance at the lower rim [376], Addition of Li+, Na+, and K+ ions enforces cone formation and the disruption of the initially formed excimer. Accordingly, the metal ions are detected by a decrease in pyrene excimer emission and concomitant increase in the pyrene fluorescence. 

For Ag+, complexation via the calixarene aromatic rings has been firmly established for both the partial cone and cone conformations of the immobile tetra/j-propyl ethers by X-ray crystallography.60 In both cases, the Ag+ cation is sandwiched between two distal (opposite sides of the molecule, as opposed to proximal, meaning adjacent to one another) calixarene rings, which are nearly mutually perpendicular giving a pinched cone conformation. The exposed face of the cation is coordinated to a triflate anion in both cases. For the partial cone case, the Ag+ ion also interacts with one of the anisole oxygen atoms, which is inverted with respect to the other three at the lower rim (Figure 3.85). 

Calixarenes are formed by condensation of a p-substituted phenol with formaldehyde [8]. These macrocycles are conformationally quite flexible but, by introducing suitable substituents in the aromatic subunits, the so-called cone conformation, in which all aromatic subunits point into the same direction, can be stabilized. This conformation is usually best suited to complex guest molecules because it has a well defined hydrophobic cavity. An inclusion of cations such as ammonium ions or quaternary ammonium ions into this cavity can be demonstrated, for example, by the characteristic upfield shifts of guest signals in the NMR, an effect that is a consequence of the close proximity of the corresponding protons to the surfaces of the aromatic receptor subunits in the complex. 

Because of expected electrical, electrochemical, optical, chemo-sensor, and other properties of the ball-type Pcs, several metallo and metal-free ball-type Pcs with different linkers have been reported. Metallo and metal free ball-type Pcs containing four calyx[4]arene units as linkers have been synthesized, Fig. 1 [37], The structures of compounds 1-3 were confirmed by UV-vis, IR, 1II-NMR, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS), and elemental analysis. Because of their unique structure and versatile complexation properties [38], calixarenes were found to be one type of interesting compounds to be incorporated into Pc. The cone conformation of the t-butylcalix[4]arene direct... 

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