Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.132, No.44, 15637-15643, 2010
Restricted Guest Tumbling in Phosphorylated Self-Assembled Capsules
ABii diphosphonatocavitands self-assemble in chloroform solution to form dimeric molecular capsules. The molecular capsules can incarcerate an N-methylpyridinium or N-methylpicolinium guest. We have demonstrated that the supramolecular assembly acts as a molecular rotor as a result of the restricted motion of the guest inside the molecular cavity. In the solid state, X-ray diffraction analysis of the free host showed that two cavitands interact through strong hydrogen bonds to give the supramolecular self-assembled capsule. The solid-state structure of the N-methylpicolinium complex is comparable to that of the free host and indicates that the guest is not a prerequisite for the formation of the capsule. DOSY NMR studies provided a definitive argument for the formation of the free and complexed supramolecular capsule in CDCl3 solution. In solution, the tumbling of the N-methylpyridinium and N-methylpicolinium guests about the equatorial axes of the host can be frozen and differs by the respective energy barriers, with the larger picolinium substrate having a larger value (Delta G(double dagger) = 69.7 kJ mol(-1)) than the shorter pyridinium guest (Delta G(double dagger) = 44.8 kJ mol(-1)). This behavior corresponds to the restricted rotation of a rotator in a supramolecular rotor.