Supramolecular chemistry
The strength of the forces responsible for spatial organization of the system range from weak intermolecular forces, electrostatic charge, or hydrogen bonding to strong covalent bonding, provided that the electronic coupling strength remains small relative to the energy parameters of the component.
[6] The study of non-covalent interactions is crucial to understanding many biological processes that rely on these forces for structure and function.
In 1894,[14] Fischer suggested that enzyme–substrate interactions take the form of a "lock and key", the fundamental principles of molecular recognition and host–guest chemistry.
[15] In 1967, Charles J. Pedersen discovered crown ethers, which are ring-like structures capable of chelating certain metal ions.
After that, Donald J. Cram synthesized many variations to crown ethers, on top of separate molecules capable of selective interaction with certain chemicals.
The three scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1987 for "development and use of molecules with structure-specific interactions of high selectivity”.
[16] In 2016, Bernard L. Feringa, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart, and Jean-Pierre Sauvage were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, "for the design and synthesis of molecular machines".
[17] The term supermolecule (or supramolecule) was introduced by Karl Lothar Wolf et al. (Übermoleküle) in 1937 to describe hydrogen-bonded acetic acid dimers.
[23][24][25][26] Molecular recognition and self-assembly may be used with reactive species in order to pre-organize a system for a chemical reaction (to form one or more covalent bonds).
While covalent bonds are key to the process, the system is directed by non-covalent forces to form the lowest energy structures.
[32] Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa shared the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the 'design and synthesis of molecular machines'.
Macrocycles are very useful in supramolecular chemistry, as they provide whole cavities that can completely surround guest molecules and may be chemically modified to fine-tune their properties.
Large structures can be readily accessed using bottom-up synthesis as they are composed of small molecules requiring fewer steps to synthesize.
[43] Supramolecular biomaterials afford a number of modular and generalizable platforms with tunable mechanical, chemical and biological properties.
The area of drug delivery has also made critical advances as a result of supramolecular chemistry providing encapsulation and targeted release mechanisms.
