Session: ACS Award in Inorganic Chemistry (2021) Symposium Honoring Kristin Bowman-James:

The capture of anionic species has been previously proposed as a possible solution to many issues including overabundance, scarcity, or side effects of specific anions. Macrocyclic hosts have been frequently used for binding of anions, including binding interactions with more complex anions. For example, phytate, myo-inositol hexakisphosphate, is an important biomolecular anion involved in many metabolic processes in nature, particularly in plants. This presentation will describe mainly tricyclic hosts, that have been synthesized and evaluated through solution binding studies to probe their host/guest interactions between simple and complex anions. Findings indicate that these tricyclic hosts show affinity for smaller and larger anions, primarily depending on the host size. However, a compact tricyclic host with a tetrahedral structure has shown an affinity for holding a small guest encapsulated by a tetrahedron of water molecules. The role of water as solvent in these host-guest interactions will also be described.

Esther Holt

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