Manipulation of non-covalent forces guides the rational design of foldamers––synthetic backbones that fold into an ordered, biomimetic array. While the  O-H-N hydrogen bond of amides has been employed extensively in foldamer design, amide surrogates such as 1,4- triazoles have only recently been investigated as building blocks. Triazoles hold promise in this regard due to their electronic similarities to amides, chemical inertness, and ease of synthesis.

We report a new class of synthetic, folding backbones based on aryl 1,2,3-triazoles that serve as receptors for chloride. Interactions between aryl 1,2,3-triazoles and chloride ions are sufficiently strong as to be observable by ¹H NMR (80 - 10⁴ M^-1).  These interactions involve CH-Cl^- contacts that guide the folding of aryl triazole oligomers in solution and in the solid state. Triazoles therefore represent an alternative to conventional hydrogen bonds and coordination complexes as functional components in anion receptors. Ongoing work in our lab suggests that similar interactions with triazoles may be important for a variety of electron-rich guests, particularly when presented in a multivalent fashion.