Host–guest complexes in the crystal land: a plethora of crystal forms and crystallization peculiarities

Abstract

This review focuses on the pathway-dependent crystallization of the host–guest complexes based on the macrocyclic host molecules in aqueous media. The high degree of structural diversity from the same host and guest molecular building blocks can be achieved through simple manipulation of the crystallization conditions, such as pH, presence of additives, or cosolvents. The kinetic factors can also be crucial to determine the crystallization pathway and structure of the host–guest assemblies, especially in the case of macrocyclic hosts with constrictive binding. All these significantly broaden the host–guest crystal engineering landscape and accessibility of different crystal forms. The exciting perspectives encompass the on-demand obtaining of various crystal complexes with programmed structure and lifetime from the same host and guest components.

KEYWORDS:

• Macrocycle
• molecular recognition; cucurbit[6]uril
• p-sulfonato-calix[4]arene
• carboxylated pillar[5]arene

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Subject Index

solution-mediated transformation 8, 9, 11, 12, 15

cosolvent 7, 8, 9, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23

kinetic trapping 7, 8, 10

adrenaline 10, 11

dopamine 12, 13

isoprenaline 15, 16

octopamine 16

diminazene 16, 17, 18

isoniazid 18, 19

pentamidine 20, 21

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Oksana Danylyuk

Oksana Danylyuk was born in Lviv, Ukraine. She studied Chemistry at the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, gaining her Master degree in 2003. She obtained her PhD from the Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences (Warsaw) in 2008. Her PhD studies focused on the solid-state structural chemistry of calix[n]arenes. She completed her habilitation in 2019, working on the crystal structure of cucurbit[n]uril host–guest complexes. She is currently an Associate Professor at the Institute of Physical Chemistry (Poland). Her research interests encompass chemical crystallography and supramolecular chemistry of macrocyclic assemblies and host–guest complexes. She is curious about all kind of water-soluble macrocycles and inclusion compounds of unusual crystallization behaviour.