G.W. Gokel - Böcker

In the present volume, an effort has been made to organize and present a comprehensive overview of receptors for cationic guests. This begins with reviews of the various basic complexing systems: podands, crown ethers, lariat ethers, cryptands, and spherands. Natural cation-binding agents are also important hosts in supramolecular chemistry and their chemistry has been extensively studied. The structural aspects of complexation by natural hosts and crown ethers are reviewed separately and the topic is addressed for specific receptor systems within chapters dedicated to specific hosts. The physical chemistry of complexation and transport is reviewed along with the important application of anion activation, sometimes called phase-transfer catalysis. In the second dozen or so chapters are presented overviews of specialized areas such as the formation of alkalides, the development of chemical sensors, chromoionophores, and redox-switchable receptors. The volume concludes with discussions of transition metal complexes of macrocyclic ligands, second-sphere coordination, complexes of organometallics, and finally of fullerenes.

In this volume, inorganic, organic, and bioorganic chemistry are represented in contributions from around the world. Pioneering work in self-assembled structures organized by the use of transition metals is described in chapter 1, followed by details of extensive studies of self-assembled structures formed from various biomolecules in chapter 2. The next two chapters describe the formation of spherical molecular containers and their understanding of such structures based on Platonic and Archimedean solids, and the fascinating family of synthetic peptide receptors and the interactions that can be explored using these host molecules. In chapter 5 a mixture of computational chemistry, drug design, and synthetic organic and inorganic chemistry in the development of superoxide dismutase mimics is described. The final two chapters discuss the bioorganic and supramolecular principles required for the design of synthetic artificial enzymes, and the supramolecular self-assembly and its possible role in the origin of life.It is hoped that this broad, international view of supramolecular chemistry and the many directions it leads will be of interest to those already in the field. It is also hoped that those outside the field may see extensions of their own work that will bring them into it.

This volume presents a variety of articles that encompass the broad scope of supramolecular chemistry. Reusch's chapter covers biological channel compounds, while the work of Hall and Kirkovits looks into their synthetic counterparts. Metal ion sensors, calixarenes and "crystal engineering" are described by pioneers in these fields. This work, whilst current and authoritative, shows us that much remains to be undertaken and understood. It is hoped that this volume will be of interest to those who wish to fill these gaps; scientists already in the field and those who may see extensions of their own work that will bring them into it.