Cyclotriveratrylene inclusion chemistry

An interesting example of the interplay between solid-state clathrands and solution-phase cavitands is provided by cyclotriveratrylene (CTV, 8). In the solid state, the saucer-shaped CTV molecules stack one on top of another in the two most common phases (x and and hence, while the molecules possess shallow molecular cavities, they do not include guests such as solvent molecules, which instead are located in voids between host stacks. However, larger guests such as buckminsterfuller-ene C6o, organometallic sandwich compounds,or carboranes form intracavity inclusion compounds, and the association persists in the solid state, with potential applications, for example, in the selective purification of fullerenes. Thus, CTV is both a cavitand and a clathrand. The cavitand behavior of CTV is highlighted by the chemistry of the double-CTV cryptophanes that form very stable solution complexes with a variety of halocarbon guests. 

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