Molecular cages for biological applications

Abstract

Artificial receptors able to recognise biologically relevant molecules or ions have gained interest in the chemical community because they offer a plethora of posibilities. Molecular cage compounds are polycyclic compounds...

When Molecules Meet in Water‐Recent Contributions of Supramolecular Chemistry to the Understanding of Molecular Recognition Processes in Water

“…With a log K a of 4.3, glucose is bound by 55 stronger by a factor of circa 100 than galactose and stronger by a factor of about 1000 than a range of other carbohydrates, rendering 55 useful for carbohydrate sensing [201] and other applications. [202] Interestingly, NH donors may not be required in such "temple" receptors to achieve carbohydrate recognition in water according to results obtained by Stoddart and coworkers. [203] They introduced receptor 56 (Figure 20), consisting of two parallel pyrene units as "roof" and "floor" that can engage in CH-π interactions with the axially oriented protons of carbohydrate rings.…”

“…With a log K a of 4.3, glucose is bound by 55 stronger by a factor of circa 100 than galactose and stronger by a factor of about 1000 than a range of other carbohydrates, rendering 55 useful for carbohydrate sensing [201] and other applications. [202] …”

“…Subsequent work in the Davis group, which involved varying the aromatic units comprising the “roof” and “floor” of the temple receptors and the structure and number of the linkers making up the “columns,” not only revealed many principles of carbohydrate recognition [196] but eventually also afforded receptor 55 , [200] which has an outstanding glucose affinity and selectivity. With a log K a of 4.3, glucose is bound by 55 stronger by a factor of circa 100 than galactose and stronger by a factor of about 1000 than a range of other carbohydrates, rendering 55 useful for carbohydrate sensing [201] and other applications [202] …”

Caged-carvedilol as a new tool for visible-light photopharmacology of β-adrenoceptors in native tissues

“…Many class A GPCRs have been targeted using synthetic photoswitches ( Agnetta et al., 2017 ; Bahamonde et al., 2014 ; Broichhagen et al., 2015 ; Donthamsetti et al., 2017 ; Frank et al., 2017 ; Gómez-Santacana et al., 2018 ; Hauwert et al., 2018 ; Hüll et al., 2021 ; Morstein et al., 2020 ; Schönberger and Trauner, 2014 ; Westphal et al., 2017 ) among which, very recently, also β 1 -AR( Duran-Corbera et al., 2022 ) and β 2 -AR ( Duran-Corbera et al., 2020 ). On the other hand, irreversible molecules named caged compounds are produced by adding a photocleavable group to a known active molecule, which hampers the formation of the ligand-receptor complex, thus rendering the molecule inactive ( Tapia et al., 2021 ; Vickerman et al., 2021 ). On illumination, the photoprotecting group (PPG) is photolyzed and the active compound is locally and irreversibly released from the inactive precursor.…”

A triple-diazonium reagent for virus crosslinking and the synthesis of an azo-linked molecular cage

“…On the other hand, CMCs have been the focus of considerable interest because of their potential to encapsulate guest species, deliver drugs, catalyze reactions within their cavities, etc. 8–10 Moreover, exploring new linkage chemistry has always been one of the research focuses, 8 d since the emergence of a new-type linkage not only enriches the structural diversity but also may result in distinctive properties and applications of CMCs. To this end, various CMCs with linkages including –B–O–, 9 a ,11 –CN–, 12 –C–N–, 13 –C–O–, 14 –Si–O–, 15 and –C–C– 16 bonds have been developed in the past decade.…”