Supramolecular polymers and networks driven by cucurbit[8]uril-guest pair encapsulation in water

Abstract

Cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8]) is robust in encapsulating a stacking dimer of two identical or different aromatic units in water. In recent years, this ternary host–guest complexation motif has found wide applications in constructing supramolecular systems by noncovalently connecting molecular, supramolecular and polymeric precursors. This review summarises the important advance, in particular, in the generation of linear supramolecular polymers and extended supramolecular networks including periodic supramolecular organic frameworks.

Keywords:

• Cucurbit[8]uril
• encapsulation
• ternary complex
• supramolecular polymer
• supramolecular organic framework

Funding

This work was financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China [grant number 2013CB834501]; the Ministry of Education of China Research Fund for the Doctoral Program, the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality [grant number 13M1400200] and the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 21432004], [grant number 91527301].