Supramolecular assemblies from introduction

The question immediately arising from this brief overview on the beginnings of supramolecular chemistry is Why hasn t it been recognized earlier as a research area in its own right Why did it take more than 40 years from the introduction of the term "Ubermolekiil to Lehn s definition of supramolecular chemistry [7] as the chemistry of molecular assemblies and of the intermolecular bond [8] ... 

Membranes and Molecular Assemblies The Synkinetic Approach 6 Calixarenes Revisited 7 Self-assembly in Supramolecular Systems 8 Anion Receptor Chemistry 9 Boronic Acids in Saccharide Recognition 10 Calixarenes An Introduction, 2nd Edition 11 Polymeric and Self Assembled Hydrogels From Fundamental Understanding to Applications 12 Molecular Logic-based Computation 13 Supramolecular Systems in Biomedical Fields 14 Synthetic Receptors for Biomolecules Design Principles and Applications... 

Dynamic character of systems with supramolecular chirality presents a significant challenge for both the synthesis and the applications. Separation of enantiomers is, in most cases, not possible. Therefore, the introduction of additional chiral auxiliaries is usually required in order to induce substantial diastereomeric excess of one of the inherently chiral assemblies. One can envision that supramolecular chirahty generated this way can greatly support (or hamper) efficiency and selectivity in chiral recognition. However, the main advantage of supramolecular chirality comes from the fact that such chirality is not a fixed parameter anymore, and, therefore it can be modulated by external factors. This way such stimuli-responsive chiral systems can be created. 

The case of dendrimers illustrates the efforts made to assemble supramolecular structures of nanoscopic scale that are free of any dispersity. The term dendrimers was coined by Tomalia [1] to designate three-dimensional layered arrangements of chemical bonds that arise from the introduction of a branching point at each monomer unit. More precisely, a dendrimer consists of four main components a central core, arms of identical length, linking branching points that are therefore symmetrically distributed in the dendrimer, and end-standing reactive functions. 

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