Carborane Guests for Cucurbit[7]uril Facilitate Strong Binding and On-Demand Removal

J Am Chem Soc. 2020 Dec 9;142(49):20513-20518. doi: 10.1021/jacs.0c09361. Epub 2020 Nov 30.

Abstract

High-affinity guests have been reported for the macrocyclic host cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]), enabling widespread applications, but hindering CB[7] materials from being returned to their guest-free state for reuse. Here, we present polyhedral boron clusters (carboranes) as strongly binding, yet easily removable, guests for CB[7]. Aided by a Pd-catalyzed coupling of an azide anion, we prepared boron-functionalized 9-amino-ortho-carborane that binds to CB[7] with a Ka ≈ 1010 M-1. Upon basic treatment, ortho-carborane readily undergoes deboronation to yield anionic nido-carborane, a poor guest for CB[7], facilitating recovery of guest-free CB[7]. We showcase the utility of the modified ortho-carborane guest by recycling a CB[7]-functionalized resin. With this report, we introduce stimuli-responsive decomplexation as an additional consideration in the design of high-affinity host-guest complexes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Azides / chemistry
  • Boron Compounds / chemistry*
  • Bridged-Ring Compounds / chemistry*
  • Catalysis
  • Imidazoles / chemistry*
  • Kinetics
  • Palladium / chemistry

Substances

  • Azides
  • Boron Compounds
  • Bridged-Ring Compounds
  • Imidazoles
  • cucurbit(7)uril
  • Palladium