Supramolecular chemistry

Supramolecular chemistry
M stone at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Name	Supramolecular chemistry
Field	Chemistry
Notable	Jean-Marie Lehn; Donald J. Cram; Charles J. Pedersen; Fraser Stoddart; Ben Feringa; J. Fraser Stoddart

Contents

Supramolecular chemistry Supramolecular chemistry studies organized assemblies of molecules held together by noncovalent forces and explores how such assemblies enable function. Researchers in the fields of Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureates like Jean-Marie Lehn, Donald J. Cram, and Charles J. Pedersen helped define principles that intersect with work at institutions such as the Max Planck Society, American Chemical Society, and Royal Society of Chemistry. Applications draw attention from stakeholders including companies like IBM, DuPont, and agencies such as the National Science Foundation and European Research Council.

Introduction

The discipline developed through milestones including the award of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Jean-Marie Lehn, Donald J. Cram, and Charles J. Pedersen and later to J. Fraser Stoddart, Ben Feringa, and Bernard L. Feringa for molecular machines. Historical laboratories at University of Strasbourg, California Institute of Technology, University of Cambridge, University of California, Los Angeles, and ETH Zurich hosted pioneering groups. Key conferences at venues like the Gordon Research Conferences, Faraday Society, and IUPAC forums have shaped terminology and standards. Influential journals such as Nature, Science, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Chemical Communications, and Angewandte Chemie publish foundational reports.

Fundamental concepts trace back to studies by investigators in groups at Max Planck Institute for Coal Research and Brookhaven National Laboratory exploring forces like hydrogen bonding, π–π interactions, van der Waals forces, electrostatics, and coordination. Seminal experiments from teams at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Columbia University, and University of Tokyo elucidated host–guest binding, molecular recognition, and self-assembly thermodynamics. Theoretical frameworks developed by researchers associated with Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and models used at Los Alamos National Laboratory connect to spectroscopic probes at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Concepts of templation and cooperativity were formalized in symposia sponsored by European Molecular Biology Organization and by thought leaders affiliated with CNRS.

Design strategies include template-directed synthesis pioneered in labs at University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Self-assembly motifs exploited by research groups at Nanyang Technological University, University of Manchester, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute include metal–ligand coordination driven by principles established in reports from Ohio State University and University of California, Berkeley. Dynamic covalent chemistry, adaptive systems, and reticular design are topics advanced by consortia including European Research Council grants and centers such as Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research. Computational design tools developed at MIT, Imperial College London, and University of Cambridge integrate methods from labs funded by Wellcome Trust and Human Frontier Science Program.

Representative systems encompass crown ethers and cryptands traced to work honored by the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, rotaxanes and catenanes advanced by teams at University of Birmingham and Northwestern University, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) developed by researchers at University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Manchester, and Institut Laue-Langevin, and host molecules such as cyclodextrins produced commercially by firms like Roquette and investigated at University of Geneva. Supramolecular polymers studied at Stockholm University and Kyoto University interface with research on molecular machines from University of Twente and Eindhoven University of Technology. Systems such as vesicles and micelles were explored by groups at Scripps Research, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and University of Sydney.

Characterization employs spectroscopies and imaging techniques developed at large facilities: nuclear magnetic resonance at Institut Pasteur and Columbia University, X-ray crystallography at Diamond Light Source and European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, cryo-electron microscopy at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, and scanning probe methods refined at IBM Research and National Institute of Standards and Technology. Mass spectrometry methods from Agilent Technologies and Thermo Fisher Scientific labs, calorimetry protocols standardized by IUPAC, and single-molecule fluorescence approaches from Stanford University and Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry are central. Computational chemistry and molecular dynamics simulations are pursued at Argonne National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Applications span drug delivery systems investigated at Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and Roche; sensing platforms commercialized by Siemens and GE Healthcare; energy-related materials developed at National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Shell; and separation technologies used by BASF and Evonik Industries. Supramolecular strategies underpin supramolecular catalysis studied at Scripps Research Institute and ETH Zurich, stimuli-responsive materials pursued at MIT and Yale University, and nanoscale devices influenced by initiatives at DARPA and European Space Agency.

Outstanding challenges include scalability issues faced by industrial partners such as Dow Chemical Company and DuPont; stability and integration hurdles being addressed at Sandia National Laboratories and Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and regulatory, ethical, and translational pathways navigated with input from World Health Organization and European Medicines Agency. Future directions involve interdisciplinary collaborations spanning centers like Johns Hopkins University, University of Oxford, Peking University, and large funding bodies including National Institutes of Health and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science to realize smart materials, molecular robotics, and programmable matter.