Organophosphorus Supramolecular Chemistry. Part 2. Organophosphorus Receptors

Despite their importance in biology and industry, organophosphorus compounds appear quite rarely as an object of supramolecular chemistry studies. Development of synthetic methods in organophosphorus chemistry enabled to design and synthesize compounds of complex structures and thus to develop organophosphorus supramolecular chemistry. In this review, a state-of art showing current progress in design and application of host molecules bearing phosphate, phosphonate, phosphinate or phosphine oxide entities is presented. These structural elements are involved in formation of specific nets of hydrogen bonds and/or electrostatic interactions with complexed molecules (guest molecules) via anionic phosphate or phosphonate residues. Such host molecules are usually designed mostly for a variety of analytical purposes, namely as components of sensors, as extractants, chiral discriminators, membrane carriers etc.