Pyrogallol [4]arenes have drawn much attention since their emergence as new hydrogen-bonded hexameric 1 or metalseamed 2,3 capsule-forming molecular receptors. arenes often form a variety of superstructures other than hexameric capsules 4-7 including dimeric capsules 8 and bilayers depending on the selection of solvent conditions.
1,9-12It is well established that the substitution of aryls for alkyls on methine units connecting the pyrogallols of pyrogallol-[4]arene yields a chair conformation, while alkyl-substituted pyrogallol[4]arene mostly adopts a cone conformation. In these reports, the hydroxyl groups of pyrogallols were acetylated to enhance solubility because of the poor solubility of unacetylated forms in common organic solvents.
13Herein, we describe the synthesis, crystal structure, and spectroscopic investigation of C-cyanophenyl pyrogallol-[4]arene (1) without any modification of the hydroxyl groups of pyrogallols, which might be the first crystal structure formed in unacetylated aryl-substituted pyrogallol[4]-arenes. These findings might be useful for the design of receptors based on pyrogallol [4]arenes for the construction of the superstructure derived from hydrogen bonds or metal coordinations.
Experimental SectionAll the chemicals were used as received without further purification. The synthesis of pyrogallol[4]arene were performed according to the method in the literature method.
13The 1 H NMR and 13 C NMR spectra were recorded on a Bruker AVANCE II spectrometer at a Larmor frequency of 400.13 MHz. The infrared (IR) spectra were recorded on a MIDAC M series IR spectrometer. MALDI-TOF mass spectra were obtained on a Bruker Reflex III MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer. Data collection for 1 was performed with the beamline (6C1 MXII) at the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL).Synthesis of 2,8,14,20-cyanophenyl pyrogallol[4]arenes (1). The synthesis of 1 has been reported elswhere.1 Briefly, equimolar amounts of pyrogallol (1.2 g, 10 mmol) and 4-cyanobenzaldehyde (1.3 g, 10 mmol) were mixed in a round-bottom flask containing 30 mL of ethanol and 10 mL of concentrated HCl with a flow of nitrogen; the solution was stirred under a reflux at 70-80 o C for 1 day. The resulting solution was cooled to room temperature. Filtration and washing with water and ethanol several times followed by drying in vacuum gave the desired product (yield = ~65%).