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Controllable macrocyclic supramolecular assemblies in aqueous solution

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Abstract

A series of macrocycles, including crown ethers, cyclodextrins, calixarenes, pillararenes and cucurbiturils, are well known to be able to associate various organic/inorganic/biological guest molecules and ions in their well-defined cyclic cavities to form stable host-guest complexes and supramolecular systems through the cooperative contributions of various non-covalent interactions. When one or more functional groups are attached to the cavity of macrocycles or guest molecules, enhanced and/or controlled host-guest associations may take place, leading to not only improved host-guest binding abilities but also fascinating properties. In this review, some representative contributions in the construction of controllable macrocyclic supramolecular assemblies in aqueous solution are presented with an emphasis on the stimuli-responsive control manner and wide applications of this property.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91527301, 21432004)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Elemento-Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China

    Yong Chen & Yu Liu

  2. Co-Innovation Center of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin, 300072, China

    Yong Chen & Yu Liu

  3. State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, Center for Chemistry of High-Performance & Novel Materials, Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China

    Feihe Huang

  4. Department of Chemistry, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials and Collaborative Innovation Centre of Chemistry for Energy Materials (iChEM), Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China

    Zhan-Ting Li

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  1. Yong Chen
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  2. Feihe Huang
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  3. Zhan-Ting Li
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  4. Yu Liu
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Correspondence to Yu Liu.

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Chen, Y., Huang, F., Li, ZT. et al. Controllable macrocyclic supramolecular assemblies in aqueous solution. Sci. China Chem. 61, 979–992 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-018-9337-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-018-9337-4

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