Cryptands Jean-Marie Lehn

The work of Jean-Marie Lehn has led to a new subfield of chemistry called supramolecular chemistry. He studied the binding between metal atoms and organic molecules and eventually created cryptands to bind with metal centers (see Chapters 9 and 15 for more details). In 1987 he shared the Nobel Prize with Donald J. Cram and Charles J. Pedersen for their development and use of molecules with structure-specific interactions of high selectivity.  

In 1996 Richard Smalley, Robert Curl, and Harold Kroto shared the Nobel Prize for their discovery of the buckminsterfullerene. It s a spherical molecule resembling a soccer ball, and it s composed of 60 carbon atoms. (It s often referred to as Cgp for this reason.) The discovery led toward the science of nanotechnology. Today, Robert Curl can be found cycling to work on his bicycle. It s a sight to behold because here s a man awarded a Nobel Prize for discovering a carbon molecule, yet he keeps his carbon footprint at an absolute minimum. 

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Jean-Marie Lehn synthesis of the first cryptands... 

Jean-Marie Lehn et al. Cryptand metal complexes... 

The ultimate in encapsulation of a metal cation occurs by hgands termed cryptands, for example, N(CEl2-CH2-0-CH2-CH2-0-CEl2-CH2)3N, which completely encapsulates the cation the complex with the cation is 1,000 times more stable than the corresponding Na complex. The preparation and study of these compounds, by Donald J. Cram, Jean-Marie Lehn, and Charles J. Pedersen, earned them the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1987. 

Park and Simmonds Katapinand anion hosts 1969 — Jean-Marie Lehn Synthesis of the first cryptands... 

Shortly after the original crown ether work, Jean-Marie Lehn realised that donor atoms can be situated within a three-dimensional array to completely encapsulate the ion from the outside medium. Lehn and co-workers prepared a range of bicyclic systems named cryptands, one of the first of which was [2.2.2]cryptand (2.13). Each cryptand is denoted by the number of heteroatoms that are incorporated in the bridges linking between the bridgehead atoms (normally nitrogen atoms). Therefore, [2.1.1]cryptand, [2.2.1]cryptand and [2.2.2]cryptand contain four, five and six oxygen atoms, respectively (2.11-2.13). 

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