Organic chemistry

The project deals with the synthesis and physico-chemical studies of dimeric cyclodextrin macrocycles connected in a head-to head manner with disulfide bonds. These compounds are capable of forming highly stable inclusion complexes with a broad range of organic molecules (Ka up to 1010 M-1).  Due to the dynamic nature of disulfide linkages the macrocycles forming the dimers can undergo - in the presence of a catalyst and a guest molecule - spontaneous interchange so as to amplify the concentration of the most stable host-guest complexes. The goal of the study is the development of synthetic methods for the introduction of anionic/cationic moieties onto the duplexes for enhanced binding of organic ions and the elaboration of analytical tools for the investigation of the dynamic library of duplexes composed of alpha-, beta- and gamma-cyclodextrins.