Functional π-Gelators and Their Applications

In the wide area of supramolecular chemistry, cucurbit[n]urils (CBn) present themselves as a young family of molecular containers, able to form stable complexes with various guests, including drug molecules, amino acids and peptides, saccharides, dyes, hydrocarbons, perfluorinated hydrocarbons, and even high molecular weight guests such as proteins (e.g., human insulin). Since the discovery of the first CBn, CB6, the field has seen tremendous growth with respect to the synthesis of new homologues and derivatives, the discovery of record binding affinities of guest molecules in their hydrophobic cavity, and associated applications ranging from sensing to drug delivery. In this review, we discuss in detail the fundamental properties of CBn homologues and their cyclic derivatives with a focus on their synthesis and their applications in catalysis.

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Cucurbiturils: from synthesis to high-affinity binding and catalysis

Recent Advances in Supramolecular Analytical Chemistry Using Optical Sensing.

In this review, we survey the diversity of structures and functions which are encountered in advanced self-assembled nanomaterials. We highlight their flourishing implementations in three active domains of applications: biomedical sciences, information technologies, and environmental sciences. Our main objective is to provide the reader with a concise and straightforward entry to this broad field by selecting the most recent and important research articles, supported by some more comprehensive reviews to introduce each topic. Overall, this compilation illustrates how, based on the rules of supramolecular chemistry, the bottom-up approach to design functional objects at the nanoscale is currently producing highly sophisticated materials oriented towards a growing number of applications with high societal impact.

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2013/NR/C3NR02176A

Supramolecular self-assemblies as functional nanomaterials

Chemotherapy is currently one of the most effective ways to treat cancer. However, traditional chemotherapy faces several obstacles to clinical trials, such as poor solubility/stability, non-targeting capability and uncontrollable release of the drugs, greatly limiting their anticancer efficacy and causing severe side effects towards normal tissues. Supramolecular chemotherapy integrating non-covalent interactions and traditional chemotherapy is a highly promising candidate in this regard and can be appropriately used for targeted drug delivery. By taking advantage of supramolecular chemistry, some limitations impeding traditional chemotherapy for clinical applications can be solved effectively. Therefore, we present here a review summarizing the progress of supramolecular chemotherapy in cancer treatment based on host–guest recognition and provide guidance on the design of new targeting supramolecular chemotherapy combining diagnostic and therapeutic functions. Based on a large number of state-of-the-art studies, our review will advance supramolecular chemotherapy on the basis of host–guest recognition and promote translational clinical applications.

Supramolecular chemotherapy based on host–guest molecular recognition: a novel strategy in the battle against cancer with a bright future

Supramolecular analytical chemistry has emerged as a new discipline at the interface of supramolecular and analytical chemistry. It focuses on analytical applications of molecular recognition and self-assembly. One of the important outcomes of the supramolecular analytical chemistry is the understanding of molecular aspects of sensor design, synthesis and binding studies of sensors while using rigorous methods of analytical chemistry as a touchstone to verify the viability of the supramolecular aspects of the sensor design. This critical review provides a simplified version of the chemometric procedures involved in realizing a successful analytical experiment that utilizes cross-reactive optical sensor arrays, and summarizes the current research in this field. This review also shows several examples of use of described chemometric methods for evaluation of chemosensors and sensor arrays. Thus, this review is aimed mostly at the readers who want to test their newly-developed chemosensors in cross-reactive arrays (169 references).

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A practical approach to optical cross-reactive sensor arrays

A Practical Approach to Optical Cross-Reactive Sensor Arrays

A supramolecular assay based on two fluorescent cucurbit[n]uril probes enables the recognition and quantification of nitrosamines, including cancer-associated nitrosamines, compounds that are difficult to recognize. The cross-reactive sensor leverages weak interactions and competition among the probe, metal, and guest, yielding high information density in the signal output (variance) and enabling the recognition of structurally similar guests.

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Maria E. Kozelkova

Papers

A practical approach to optical cross-reactive sensor arrays

A Practical Approach to Optical Cross-Reactive Sensor Arrays

Supramolecular Sensor for Cancer-Associated Nitrosamines

Hydrophilic polymer matrices in optical array sensing

A Practical Approach to Optical Cross-Reactive Sensor Arrays