Electron guest-host effect

Hawthorne and co-workers have also produced a series of macrocyclic Lewis acid hosts called mercuracarborands (156, 157, and 158) (Fig. 84) with structures incorporating electron-withdrawing icosahedral carboranes and electrophilic mercury centers. They were synthesized by a kinetic halide ion template effect that afforded tetrameric cycles or cyclic trimers in the presence or absence of halide ion templates, respectively.163 These complexes, which can bind a variety of electron-rich guests, are ideal for catalytic and ion-sensing applications, as well as for the assembly of supramolecular architectures. 

Addition of an alkali metal ion to 23 should also make this host molecule a better binder of aromatic guest molecules. In the aa conformation unlike the as conformation-the 7r-electron rich naphthalene walls are capable of sandwiching rc-electron poor molecules (see Fig. 12). Indeed, upon addition of a potassium salt to a solution of 23, the for binding of 1,3-dinitrobenzene increases by a factor of 2 to 6, depending on the solvent systems [26]. Consistent with the proposed structure of the complex of 23 with sodium ions, addition of these ions has no effect on the of 23 with 1,3-dinitrobenzene. 

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