Issue 9, 2021

A photoswitchable strapped calix[4]pyrrole receptor: highly effective chloride binding and release

Abstract

A stiff-stilbene strapped calix[4]pyrrole receptor can be reversibly switched by light between a strong chloride-binding Z-isomer and a very weakly binding E-isomer. The light-induced switching process is monitored by UV-Vis and 1H NMR spectroscopy and chloride binding is studied in detail using both 1H NMR and ITC titrations in DMSO and MeCN. In DMSO, at millimolar concentrations, switching from a fully bound to an almost fully unbound state can be triggered. Quantification of the binding constants in MeCN reveals an extraordinary 8000-fold affinity difference between the Z- and E-isomer. Single crystal X-ray crystallographic analysis gives insight into the structure of the photogenerated E-isomer and the geometry of the chloride-bound receptors is optimized by DFT calculations. The highly effective control of binding affinity demonstrated in this work opens up new prospects for on demand binding and release in extractions and photocontrol of membrane transport processes, among other applications.

Graphical abstract: A photoswitchable strapped calix[4]pyrrole receptor: highly effective chloride binding and release

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
07 Dec 2020
Accepted
12 Jan 2021
First published
13 Jan 2021
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2021,12, 3188-3193

A photoswitchable strapped calix[4]pyrrole receptor: highly effective chloride binding and release

D. Villarón, M. A. Siegler and S. J. Wezenberg, Chem. Sci., 2021, 12, 3188 DOI: 10.1039/D0SC06686A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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