Cyclophanes inclusion complex, formation

Cyclophanes consist of a class of artificial hosts featured with well-defined hydrophobic cavities constructed by aromatic rings incorporated in their macrocy-clic structures, and also with high design versatility because they are totally synthetic.The first direct evidence of the formation of an inclusion complex with an organic guest was obtained for tetraazacyclophane 62, the cavity of which is constructed with diphenylmethane units bridged by tetramethylene chains. 

Weber, E., Helbig, C., Seichter, W., Czugler, M., A new functional cyclophane host. Synthesis, complex formation and crystal structures of three inclusion compounds. J. Incl. Phenom. Macrocycl. Chem. 2002, 43, 239-246. 

Cyclophanes are the class of synthetic receptors that have a hydrophobic cavity. Water-soluble cyclophane can make organic compounds soluble in water via the formation of inclusion complex. Anderson et al. synthesized rod-like organic compounds in water in the presence of water-soluble cyclophanes, and obtained corresponding rotaxanes. When oxidative coupling of an acetylenic derivative in the presence of a cyclophane, an oligorotaxane having an axle with a conjugated structure was dominantly obtained rather than non-complexed diacetylene.[187,188] (Scheme 31). This rotaxane is a prototype of insulated molecular wire that is expected as an electric wire in a molecular device. 

Inclusion complexation has developed to becoming another widely exploited supramolecular interaction for the formation of supramolecular polymer networks, mostly in water [197, 198]. Several classes of macrocycles have been developed, including crown ethers [199, 200], porphyrins [201, 202], cyclophanes [203], catenanes [204], cavitands [205, 206], cryptophanes [207], calix[n]arenes [208], and carcerands [209]. Macrocyclic-based supramolecular gels can either be formed from low molecular weight precursors or from macromolecular building blocks. The following discussion focuses on the latter. 

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