Current Organic Chemistry - Volume 19, Issue 23, 2015

This review describes two families of ion transporters: the lariat ethers and the hydraphiles. The lariat ethers transport ions as carriers and hydraphiles of appropriate length form pores in bilayer membranes. Hydraphiles insert into liposomes and into the bilayers of bacteria and yeast causing toxicity at micromolar concentrations. Toxicity corresponds to channel length and ion transport efficacy. Toxicity of lariat ethers t Read More

Due to their easy functionalization and their unique conformational and recognition properties, calixarenes are attracting molecular platforms for the elaboration of separation systems. Thus, in the last decades, these macrocyclic compounds have been subject to extensive research in analytical chemistry. This review is focused on the use of calixarenes as selectors in the chromatographic separation field. The structure Read More

The biological activities of the calix[n]arenes have been extensively reported on, with regard to various forms of life ranging from self-replicating systems, such as, viruses, through bacteria, fungi and mammalian cells to human beings. This article reviews more than one hundred different calix[n]arenes classified according to their biological effects directly observed on living species. These macrocyclic molecules have been Read More

Research on supramolecular polymers is in full bloom: the seed was planted 25 years ago, with the first report on the hydrogen bond-directed self-assembly of liquid crystalline polymers, and it has now branched out in several directions, each characterized by different recognition motifs and non-covalent interactions underlying the most diverse families of supramolecular polymers devised so far. Among these, calixarene-bas Read More

Molecular capsules are containers endowed with isolated nanometer-sized cavities. In particular, supramolecular capsules -generated by exploiting hydrogen bonds, metal-coordination bonds and/or hydrophobic effects- represent an intriguing version of these fascinating molecules, and an impressive challenge for synthetic chemists. Resorcin[4]arene-based cavitands and conformationally preorganized calixarenes are two c Read More

Besides cyclodextrins and crown ethers, calixarenes are the most commonly studied macrocyclic compounds. Although their chemistry is well documented, sub-categorizing of azacrown conjugates of calixarenes still stands as a mystery. This review, mustered with 104 references, offers the readers of various disciplines an overview of the up to date knowledge of calixazacrowns apropos to their recognition behavior in sol Read More