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Taming Molecular Folding: Anion-Templated Foldamers with Tunable Quaternary Structures

Publication Type
Journal
Journal Name
Journal of the American Chemical Society
Publication Date
Page Numbers
16419 to 16427
Volume
146
Issue
24

Higher-order foldamers represent a unique class of supramolecules at the forefront of molecular design. Herein we control quaternary folding using a novel approach that combines halogen bonding (XBing) and hydrogen bonding (HBing). We present the first anion-templated double helices induced by halogen bonds (XBs) and stabilized by “hydrogen bond enhanced halogen bonds” (HBeXBs). Our findings demonstrate that the number and orientation of hydrogen bond (HB) and XB donors significantly affect the quaternary structure and guest selectivity of two similar oligomers. This research offers new design elements to engineer foldamers and tailor their quaternary structure for specific guest binding.