Hemicryptophanes are host molecules with many applications as supramolecular catalysts or in ion selective recognition. A very convenient and efficient modular approach for the synthesis of hemicryptophane-tren (tren, tris(2-aminoethyl)-amine) derivatives has been developed. For instance, hemicryptophane 1 was synthesized at the gram scale in four steps from vanillyl alcohol compared to the previous seven-step procedure. The size, shape, and functionalities of the molecular cavity were also easily modified.

The heteroditopic hemicryptophane 1, which bears a tripodal anion binding site and a cation recognition site in the molecular cavity, proved to be an efficient ion-pair receptor. The hemicryptophane host binds anions selectively depending on shape and hydrogen-bond-accepting ability. It forms an inclusion complex with the Me(4)N(+) ion, which can simultaneously bind anionic species to provide anion@[1⋅Me(4)N(+)] complexes. The increased affinity of [1⋅Me(4)N(+)] for anionic species is attributed to a strong cooperative effect that arises from the properly positioned binding sites in the hemicryptophane cavity, thus allowing the formation of the contact ion pair. Density functional theory calculations were performed to analyze the Coulomb interactions of the ion pairs, which compete with the ion-dipole ones, that originate in the ion-hemicryptophane contacts.