ORGN 218 |
Inner space of molecules
| Julius Rebek Jr., The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology and The Department of Chemistry, The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology and The Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 N. Torrey Pines Rd., La Jolla, CA 92037 |
Encapsulation complexes are molecular hosts that completely surround their guests. Host superstructures self- assemble reversibly through weak intermolecular forces such as hydrogen bonds. They operate at thermodynamic equilibrium, ambient temperatures and in the liquid phase. These assemblies exist on timescales of milliseconds to hours, long enough for many types of interactions and even reactions to take place within them. Encapsulation is governed by the fit of the guest in the host, a form of molecular recognition. Larger assemblies can coencapsulate more than one guest: a complex of 8 benzene molecules inside a hexameric resorcinarene capsule is shown below. |
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