Cucurbiturils (CB[n]) are pumpkin-shaped macrocyclic compounds that are well-established hosts for encapsulating quest in an aqueous medium, often with extreme binding affinities. CB[n]s have also been shown to greatly enhance the solubility of hydrophobic substrates in water.
However, there is a group of supramolecular complexes, which are not synthetically available either due to the very low solubility of one or both components or low stability of guest in an aqueous medium.
That is why Jiří Kaleta and his team at IOCB Prague in collaboration with Eric Masson from Ohio University decided to stuff the molecular pumpkins mechanically. In their recent paper in Chemical Communications, the researchers introduced a new path towards unique CB[7]/guests complexes.
The researchers reported the successful mechanochemical synthesis of such complexes, which is based on ball-milling of cucurbit[7]uril and four model guest molecules, adamantane, adamantyl-1-amine hydrochloride, toluidine hydrochloride, and p-phenylenediamine dihydrochloride.
Read the paper:
- Dračínský, M.; Santos Hurtado, C.; Masson, E.; Kaleta, J. Stuffed pumpkins: mechanochemical synthesis of host–guest complexes with cucurbit[7]uril. Chemical Communications 2021. https://doi.org/10.1039/D1CC00240F
