For the condensation of anions such as phosphate and ADP to form ATP and water, nature employs sophisticated supramolecular systems to overcome coulomb repulsion and activation barriers. For an attempt to create a simple, analogous chemical system, the dimerization of vanadate is probably the simplest model. We have investigated Zn-benzylcyclene which favors the dimerization thermodynamically as shown by NMR titration. Moreover, EXSY NMR experiments reveal that the vanadate dimer is also kinetically stabilized with respect to hydrolysis by complexation with Zn-cyclene.
Keywords: 51V NMR; EXSY NMR; NMR titration; Zn-cyclene; supramolecular chemistry; vanadate condensation.