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Self‐Assembly of a Purely Covalent Cage with Homochirality by Imine Formation in Water
Author(s) -
Chen Yixin,
Wu Guangcheng,
Chen Binbin,
Qu Hang,
Jiao Tianyu,
Li Yintao,
Ge Chenqi,
Zhang Chi,
Liang Lixin,
Zeng Xiuqiong,
Cao Xiaoyu,
Wang Qi,
Li Hao
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.202106428
Subject(s) - chemistry , imine , intramolecular force , covalent bond , tetrahedron , homochirality , chirality (physics) , self assembly , cage , molecule , enantiomer , crystallography , supramolecular chemistry , enantioselective synthesis , aqueous solution , ligand (biochemistry) , stereochemistry , organic chemistry , catalysis , mathematics , combinatorics , nambu–jona lasinio model , chiral symmetry breaking , physics , receptor , biochemistry , quantum mechanics , quark
Self‐assembly of host molecules in aqueous media via metal–ligand coordination is well developed. However, the preparation of purely covalent counterparts in water has remained a formidable task. An anionic tetrahedron cage was successfully self‐assembled in a [4+4] manner by condensing a trisamine and a trisformyl in water. Even although each individual imine bond is rather labile and apt to hydrolyze in water, the tetrahedron is remarkably stable or inert due to multivalence. The tetrahedral cages, as well as its neutral counterparts dissolved in organic solvent, have homochirality, namely that their four propeller‐shaped trisformyl residues adopt the same rotational conformation. The cage is able to take advantage of hydrophobic effect to accommodate a variety of guest molecules in water. When a chiral guest was recognized, the formation of one enantiomer of the cage became more favored relative to the other. As a consequence, the cage could be produced in an enantioselective manner. The tetrahedron is able to maintain its chirality after removal of the chiral guest—probably on account of the cooperative occurrence of intramolecular forces that restrict the intramolecular flipping of phenyl units in the cage framework.