Monday, May 19, 2008 - 1:35 PM
Medical Arts Building, Rm M-142 (Queensborough Community College)
236

Architectural Diversity and Elastic Networks in Hydrogen-Bonded Host Frameworks: From Molecular Jaws to Cylinders to Embedded Capsules

Michael D. Ward, New York University, New York, NY

Guest-free guanidinium organomonosulfonates (GMS) and their inclusion compounds display a variety of lamellar crystalline architectures distinguished by different �up-down� projections of the organomonosulfonate residues on either side of a two-dimensional (2D) hydrogen-bonding network of complementary guanidinium ions (G) and sulfonate moieties (S), the so-called GS sheet. Using a combinatorial library of 24 GMS hosts and 26 guest molecules, a total of 304 inclusion compounds out of a possible 624 possible host-guest combinations were realized. The GS sheets in the inclusion compounds behave as �molecular jaws� in which organomonosulfonate groups projecting from opposing sheets clamp down on the guest molecules, forming ordered interdigitated arrays of the host organic groups and guests. Both the guest-free and inclusion compounds display a variety of architectures that reveal the structural integrity of two-dimensional GS sheet and the unique ability of these hosts to conform to the steric demands of the organic guests. Certain GMS host-guest combinations prompt formation of tubular inclusion compounds in which the GS sheet curls into cylinders with retention of the 2D GS network. The cylinders assemble into hexagonal arrays through interdigitation of the organosulfonate residues that project from their outer surfaces, crystallizing in high symmetry trigonal or hexagonal space groups. This unique example of network curvature and structural isomerism between lamellar and cylindrical structures, with retention of supramolecular connectivity, is reminiscent of the phase behavior observed in surfactant microstructures and block copolymers. More recent results that demonstrate the introduction of molecular capsules embedded in these frameworks also will be described.