THERMODYNAMICS OF HOST GUEST INTERACTIONS - SOLUBILITY ENHANCEMENTS

One of the most important properties of synthetic macrocyclic hosts such as cryptands is their ability to interact with metal cation guests. Therefore, a summary of the thermodynamics of cation-cryptand complexation reactions in different media is given. This is followed by recent thermodynamic studies aiming to investigate the host properties of synthetic (crown ethers and cryptands) and natural (cyclodextrins) macrocyclic hosts towards substrates of biological relevance. The importance of transfer data for the host and guest components of the system among different reaction media in the interpretation of complexation processes involving macrocyclic hosts is demonstrated. The effect of macrocyclic ligands on the solubility of amino acids in non-aqueous media is shown. © 1990 IUPAC