Calixarenes conformations

A similar effect of metal-induced conversion of a calixarene conformation with intramolecularly bound amide groups (closed form unable to bind guest molecules) into a conformation with more separated unbound amide groups (open form) capable of complexation with amide guests operates in the allosteric regulation of the host 13 (Fig.A). ... 

Figure 10. The aromatic rings of the imsubstituted 4-r-butylcalix[4]arene are free to rotate once they have broken the strong hydrogen bonds between phenols in the cone con-former, but once 0-alkylation occnrs the rotation becomes harder. Under ambient conditions, snbstitnents larger than ethyl groups effectively freeze the calixarene conformer into one of the available fonr.

The extensive studies on the binding-free energies of the alkali metal ion complexes for the different stereoisomers, cone, partial cone, and 1,3-alternate, revealed a strong dependence of the binding efficiency upon calixarene conformation, although all the calix-crown-5 are selective... 

Enhancement of the excimer band was observed for the interaction of the (R)-enantiomer of phenylalaninol (PA) with the substituted calyx[4]arene 49, which was demonstrated to be due to a change in the calixarene conformation induced by complexation of the guest molecule. The monomeric band was instead quenched by both enantiomers, suggesting that complexation occurred also in the case of the (S)-enantiomer. The enantioselectivity was found to be solvent dependent, being present in the case of chloroform but absent in methanol [65]. 

As in the case of carbon-bridged calixarenes, conformational behaviors of azacalixarenes in solution have been investigated by means of temperature dependent H NMR spectroscopy. It was reported that azacalixarenes 4a-f, 7b-d, 7f, 7g, 8a, 20b, and 20f were conformationally flexible in solution [17-19,24,25]. Gong et al. pointed out from their NMR studies of compounds 7b, 7f, 20b, and 20f that the lack of steric hindrance and intramolecular hydrogen bonds were responsible for their high conformational mobihty in solution, as compared to carbon-bridged calixarenes [24]. 

Fig. 15. Prototype examples of (a) cyclodextrins and (b) calixarenes, showing conformational stmctures and dimensions.

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]. 

The preferred conformation of the unsubstituted calixarene shown in Fig. 1 (X = CH2) is 1,3-alternating, whereby two opposite rings are perpendicular to the plane formed by the four methylene groups and the other two are parallel to the same plane [11]. In the case of calix[6]arenes the conformational mobility is enhanced and 1,3,5-alternating or 1,4-alternating winged conformations have been identified as the preferred ones [9]. Very few heteratom-... 

Fig. 1. Known calixarenes 1 and possible conformations for calix[4]arenes...

In contrast, porphyrinogens 16 (Fig. 5) possess only 16 Ti-electrons and as a consequence the delocalization over the whole macrocycle is absent. The conformations of porphyrinogens are not planar any more and can approximate to the conformations known for calix[4]arenes (vide supra). Compounds 16 (Fig. 5) may, therefore, be considered as heteroatomic calixarene derivatives, of which some have additional heteroatoms in the bridging positions [15, 28-30]. 

Li" " and Na+ (preferentially Na" ), but not K", Mg or Ca. Molecules such as these, whose cavities can be occupied only by spherical entities, have been called spherands. Other types are calixarenes (e.g., 22). There is significant hydrogen bonding involving the phenolic OH units in [4]calixarenes, but this diminishes as the size of the cavity increases in larger ring calixarenes. There are also calix[4]-arenes, which have been shown to have conformational isomers (see p. 167) in... 

A huge group of macrocycles which contain 2,6-disubstituted phenols are the calixarenes [51]-[53]. Their conformation has been investigated intensively (Gutsche, 1989, 1991). In most conformations, however, the phenolic rings are oriented almost vertically in relation to the plane of the macrocydic ring. Therefore the OH functions are not oriented in an intra-annular fashion. Nevertheless the pK values of calixarenes [51] differ from those of other comparable phenols. The reason for this is the... 

It is not only p-substituted phenols that have been connected by methylene groups an extended calixarene based on naphthalene units [57] has also been synthesized and its acidity constants have been measured (see Table 25 Poh and Lim, 1989, 1990). In contrast to the calix[4]arenes, the pKa of the expanded calixarene [57] did not differ much from the of the analogue [58]. This may have two explanations (i) the conformation of the expanded calixarene is different from phenol-based calix[4]arenes and a special stabilization of the anion does not occur, (ii) this stabilization occurs but it is also present in the analogue. A stabilization by the neighbouring... 

Calixarenes, which are macrocyclic compounds, are one of the best building blocks to design molecular hosts in supramolecular chemistry [158]. Synthesis of calix[4]arenes, which have been adamantylated, has been reported [105, 109]. In calix[4]arenes, adamantane or its ester/carboxylic acid derivatives were introduced as substituents (Fig. 29). The purpose of this synthesis was to learn how to employ the flexible chemistry of adamantane in order to construct different kinds of molecular hosts. The X-ray structure analysis of p-(l-adamantyl)thiacalix[4]arene [109] demonstrated that it contained four CHCI3 molecules, one of which was located inside the host molecule cavity, and the host molecule assumed the cone-like conformational shape (Fig. 30). 

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... 

A. Dondoni, M. Kleban, X. Hu, A. Marra, and H. D. Banks, Glycoside-clustering round calixarenes toward the development of multivalent carbohydrate ligands. Synthesis and conformational analysis of calix[4]arene O- and C-glycoconjugates, J. Org. Chem., 67 (2002) 4722 -733. 

The hemispherands, spherands, calixarenes, and related derivatives. A number of hosts for which the pre-organization criterion is half met (the hemispherands) (Cram et al., 1982) or fully met (the spherands) (Cram, Kaneda, Helgeson Lein, 1979) have been synthesized. An example of each of these is given by (251) and (252), respectively. In (251), the three methoxyl groups are conformationally constrained whereas the remaining ether donors are not fixed but can either point in or out of the ring. This system binds well to alkali metal ions such as sodium and potassium as well as to alkylammonium ions. The crystal structure of the 1 1 adduct with the f-butyl ammonium cation indicates that two linear +N-H - 0... 

A further category of cavitands are the calixarenes (Gutsche, Dhawan, No Muthukrishnan, 1981 Gutsche Levine, 1982). Structure (255) illustrates an example of this type which is readily prepared by treatment of 4-f-butylphenol with formaldehyde and base. The compound may exist in other conformations besides the saucer-shaped one illustrated by (255). Similarly, f-butyl-calix[4]arene (256 R = CH2COOH) has an enforced hydrophilic cavity in the shape of a cone the alkali and ammonium salts of this host are soluble in water (Arduini, Pochini, Reverberi Ungaro, 1984). 

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... 

Three macrobicycles 40b (216), 40h (212), and 40k (211) were characterized by X-ray crystallography. Fig. 31 displays the structure of 40h. The compounds adopt a highly folded conformation, reminiscent of calixarenes (23) and related Schiff-base macrocycles (181). 

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... 

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