Dicarboxylate recognition based on ultracycle hosts through cooperative hydrogen bonding and anion–π interactions

• Wen-Hui Mi,
• Teng-Yu Huang,
• Xu-Dong Wang,
• Yu-Fei Ao,
• Qi-Qiang Wang and
• De-Xian Wang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 884–889, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.72

• Sciences, Beijing 100049, China 10.3762/bjoc.21.72 Abstract The efficient binding of dicarboxylates represents an important yet challenging issue in supramolecular chemistry. In this study, we designed functional ultracycles as hosts to accommodate large organic dicarboxylate anions. These ultracycles

• selectivity for heptanedioate (C72−) was attributed to cooperative hydrogen bonding, anion–π interactions, and a size-matching effect, as supported by DFT optimizations. Keywords: anion–π interactions; anion recognition; hydrogen bonding; dicarboxylates; ultracycles; Introduction Macrocycles containing more

• than 50 atoms in the macrocyclic skeleton are denoted as ultracycles [1]. These very large macrocycles are prevalent in nature and exhibit unique functions. For instance, the archaeal lipid GDGT-0 enables archaea to thrive in extreme environments [2]; cycloamyloses enhance the stability of drug