RESUMEN

The shape of things to come: Aromatic oligohydrazide macrocycles with planar backbones enforced by three-center hydrogen bonds are formed in high yield from monomeric diacid chlorides and dihydrazides. Macrocycles consisting of six meta-linked pyridine and benzene residues have an internal cavity of about 10 A diameter, while those with alternating meta- and para-linked benzene residues are larger and contain multiple convergent sites (see picture).

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RESUMEN

In this article, the highly efficient formation of a series of recently discovered aromatic oligoamide macrocycles consisting of six meta-linked residues is first discussed. The macrocycles, with their backbones rigidified by three-center hydrogen bonds, were found to form in high yields that deviate dramatically from the theoretically allowed value obtained from kinetic simulation of a typical kinetically controlled macrocyclization reaction. The folding of the uncyclized six-residue oligomeric precursors, which belong to a class of backbone-rigidified oligoamides that have been demonstrated by us to adopt well-defined crescent conformations, plays a critical role in the observed high efficiency. Out of two possible mechanisms, one is consistent with experimental results obtained from the coupling of crescent oligoamides of different lengths, which suggests a remote steric effect that discourages the formation of oligomers having lengths longer than the backbone of the six-residue precursors. The suggested mechanism is supported by the efficient formation of very large aromatic oligoamide macrocycles consisting of alternating meta- and para-linked residues. These large macrocycles, having H-bond-rigidified backbones and large internal lumens, are formed in high (>80%) yields on the basis of one-step, multicomponent macrocyclization reactions. The condensation of monomeric meta-diamines and a para-diacid chloride leads to the efficient formation of macrocycles with 14, 16, and 18 residues, corresponding to 70-, 80-, and 90-membered rings that contain internal cavities of 2.2, 2.5, and 2.9 nm across. In addition, the condensation between trimeric or pentameric diamines and a monomeric diacid chloride had resulted in the selective formation of single macrocyclic products with 16 or 18 residues. The efficient formation of the macrocycles, along with the absence of other noncyclic oligomeric and polymeric byproducts, is in sharp contrast to the poor yields associated with most kinetically controlled macrocyclization reactions. This system represents a rare example of highly efficient kinetic macrocyclization reactions involving large numbers of reacting units, which provides very large, shape-persistent macrocycles.

RESUMEN

This article describes an associating system that integrates the specificity of multiple hydrogen bonding and the strength of dynamic covalent interactions. Linear oligoamides that sequence-specifically pair into H-bonded duplexes in nonpolar solvents were modified with S-trityl groups, allowing the reversible formation of disulfide bonds. The disulfide-crosslinking reactions of oligoamides capable of pairing via two, four, and six intermolecular H-bonds, along with several control strands, were examined using ESI, MALDI-TOF, reverse phase HPLC, and two-dimensional NMR. Results from these studies demonstrate that this system possesses both the high fidelity of multiply H-bonded assemblies and the high stability of covalent interaction, leading to the sequence-specific crosslinking of complementary oligoamides in not only nonpolar (methylene chloride) solutions but also highly competitive (aqueous) media. Experiments were designed to systematically probe the mechanism behind the specific formation of the sequence-matched products, which revealed a thermodymically controlled process. Multiple pairs in the same solution were crosslinked in a sequence-specific fashion. In addition, a length-dependent selectivity was also observed. Thus, oligoamides with different lengths or sequences did not crosslink into mismatched products. As few as two H-bonds is sufficient to bias the specific formation of the crosslinked product in aqueous media, suggesting that associating units with tunable sizes, high stability, and high specificity can be conveniently designed. The combination of H-bonding and dynamic covalent interactions represents a new, generalizable strategy for developing highly specific molecular associating units that are stable in a wide variety of media. These associating units will greatly facilitate the construction of various structures with many applications.

RESUMEN

The hydrogen bond rigidified backbones of aromatic oligoamides are temporarily interrupted by replacing the amide hydrogens with the acid-labile 2,4-dimethoxybenzyl (DMB) group, which allows the efficient preparation of long folding oligomers that, upon removal of the DMB groups, fold into multiturn helices. [structure: see text]

RESUMEN

Oligoamide strands that associate in a sequence-specific fashion into hydrogen-bonded duplexes in nonpolar solvents were converted into disulfide cross-linked duplexes in aqueous media. Thus, by incorporating trityl-protected thiol groups, which allows the reversible formation of disulfide bonds, into the oligoamide strands, only duplexes consisting of complementary hydrogen-bonding sequences were formed in aqueous solution as well as in methanol. The sequence-specific cross-linking of oligoamide strands was confirmed by MALDI-TOF, reverse-phase HPLC, and by isolating a cross-linked duplex. This study demonstrates that the sequence-specificity characteristic of multiply hydrogen-bonded systems can be extended into competitive media through the interplay of H-bonding and reversible covalent interactions, based on which a new class of molecular associating and ligating units that are compatible with both polar and nonpolar environments can be conveniently obtained.

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RESUMEN

[structures: see text] This article describes the synthetic procedures for the preparation of crescent (and helical) aromatic oligoamides developed in recent years in our laboratory. The large-scale preparation of a variety of monomers derived from various tetrasubstituted benzenes is presented. Three different strategies for constructing various oligomers consisting of meta- and meta/para-linked benzene residues are discussed. Factors affecting coupling efficiency and yields are analyzed. The developed synthetic methods have provided the basis for the preparation of longer oligomers and for the development of solid-phase synthesis.

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