Chiral Supramolecular Nanospheres towards Extended Applications

Catalysis in confined spaces using molecular capsules or cages has drawn a lot of interest as it mimics the second coordination sphere of enzyme to lead to more selective catalysts.¹ Recently our group developed endo-functionalised Fujita-type ligand that self-assembled into M₁₂L₂₄ nanospheres (M = Pd or Pt and L = ligand) that enhanced catalyst properties through either substrate preorganisation or increased catalyst concentration.^2,3

Having established the potential of nanospheres for catalysis we now aim to investigate chirality induction from chiral nanospheres to obtain enantioselective catalysis. Synthesis of chiral cages and investigation of their chiral amplification but also of their chiral recognition properties was studied and applied in the frame of transition catalysis.

(1) Leenders, S. H. A. M.; Gramage-Doria, R.; de Bruin, B.; Reek, J. N. H. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2015, 44 (2), 433.

(2) Gramage-Doria, R.; Hessels, J.; Leenders, S. H. A. M.; Tröppner, O.; Dürr, M.; Ivanović-Burmazović, I.; Reek, J. N. H. Angew. Chemie Int. Ed. 2014, 53 (49), 13380.

(3) Wang, Q.-Q.; Gonell, S.; Leenders, S. H. A. M.; Dürr, M.; Ivanović-Burmazović, I.; Reek, J. N. H. Nat. Chem. 2016, 8 (3), 225.