Supramolecular structures interaction energy

Macrocyclic receptors made up of two, four or six zinc porphyrins covalently connected have been used as hosts for di- and tetrapyridyl porphyrins, and the association constants are in the range 105-106 M-1, reflecting the cooperative multipoint interactions (84-86). These host-guest complexes have well-defined structures, like Lindsey s wheel and spoke architecture (70, Fig. 27a), and have been used to study energy and electron transfer between the chromophores. A similar host-guest complex (71, Fig. 27b) was reported by Slone and Hupp (87), but in this case the host was itself a supramolecular structure. Four 5,15-dipyridyl zinc porphyrins coordinated to four rhenium complexes form the walls of a macrocyclic molecular square. This host binds meso-tetrapyridyl and 5,15-dipyridyl porphyrins with association constants of 4 x 107 M-1 and 3 x 106 M-1 respectively. 

Ab initio and density functional theory (DET) methods have been exploited to determine the structures and the interaction energies of 2/7-isoxazol-5-one B, and its dimer and trimer structures in the gas phase. For the cyclic trimer, the computed structural parameters resulted in excellent agreement with the X-ray determination of the supramolecular aggregate of 4-(2-methoxybenzyl)-3-phenyl-4//-isoxazol-5-one, involving very strong intermolecular H-bonds of the NH tautomeric form, interpreted in terms of the RAHB (resonance-assisted hydrogen bond) model (see Section 4.03.3.1) <2002HCA2364>. 

It is important to note that weak hydrogen bonds must not be neglected in multi-valent host-guest interactions as their contribution to the interaction energy can be decisive and can thus determine the structure of a supramolecular assembly (see Refs. [184, 188, 189] for general accounts on weak hydrogen bonds, Ref. [190] for weak C-H F-C interactions, and Refs. [59, 175] for weak C-H O= contacts). 

Two important aspects of Uposome formation must be emphasized here. First, in some cases we observe the formation of ordered supramolecular structures starting from a chaotic disordered mixture of surfactants (as in the ethanol injection method . As noticed before, this increase of order is attended by a simultaneous increase of water entropy and a decrease of overall free energy (Upids and solvent). Secondly, every time a liposome forms, there is the anergence of a division, with an inside world that is different from the external environment, even if the two worlds actually interact with each other. The discrimination between inside and outside, appUcable to lipid vesicles, is the first structural pre-requisite for the living cell. It is therefore clear that lipid or fatty acid vesicles may be considered relevant experimental model of simplified cells, and their role on... 

The dispersion interaction in the third-order perturbation theory contributes to the three-body non-additivity and is called the Axilrod-Teller energy. The term represents a correlation effect. Note that the effect is negative for three bodies in a linear configuration. The most important contributions electrostatic, valence repulsion, induction and dispersion lead to a richness of supramolecular structures. 

---