We present the synthesis of new chiral water-soluble dimeric capsules by the multicomponent Mannich reaction between charged amino acids (glutamic acid or arginine), resorcinarene, and formaldehyde and by subsequent self-assembly. The zwitterionic character of the backbones enables electrostatic interactions between arms and induces self-assembly of dimeric capsules, namely, (L-ArgR)2 and (L-GluR)2, in water with a wide range of pH, as demonstrated by NMR, diffusion coefficient measurement, and circular dichroism. The assembly/disassembly processes are fast on the NMR timescale. This mode of dimerization leaves side chains available for additional interactions and creates chiral cavities of mixed hydrophobic/hydrophilic character. According to this characteristic, capsules do not bind fully nonpolar or fully polar guests but effectively encapsulate a variety of chiral molecules with mixed polar/apolar characters (aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes, epoxides, alcohols, carboxylic acids, amines, and amino acids) with moderate strength. We also demonstrate the formation of heterocapsules (GluR) (ArgR) (homo- and heterochiral) that utilize additional interactions between charged acidic and basic side chains and have better encapsulation properties than those of the homodimers.
Keywords: host–guest system; salt bridge; self-assembly; supramolecular chemistry; water chemistry.
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