Two chiral (A)₆B-typed supramolecular cages were constructed from hydrogen-bonded C₆-symmetric zinc porphyrin hexamers and chiral C₃-symmetric pyridyl hexadentates with a core of 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene. Circular dichroism and molecular simulations revealed that the symmetry of the supramolecular cages switched from pseudo-C_3v to C₃ with the rotational confinement of the biphenyl backbones at low temperatures, which generated conformationally chiral transfer and amplification. This unique phenomenon suggests a new strategy to develop smart materials with high sensitivity and excellent reversibility.

A novel porous organic polymer (POP) has been constructed through the condensation of triptycene tricatechol and 1,3,5-benzenetris(4-phenylboronic acid). This triptycene-based POP exhibited high H₂ uptake (up to 1.84 wt% at 77 K, 1 bar), large CO₂ adsorption capacity (up to 18.1 wt% at 273K, 1 bar), and excellent CO₂/N₂ adsorption selectivity (up to 120/1). The influence of solvent on the gas adsorption performance of the POP has also been investigated.

The construction of supramolecular systems in aqueous media is still a great challenge owing to the limited sources of building blocks. In this study, a series of 4-aryl-N-methylpyridinium derivatives have been synthesized. They formed very stable host–guest (1:2) complexes with CB[8] in water (binding constants up to 10¹⁴ M⁻²) with the two guest molecules arranged in a head-to-tail manner and the complexes showed high thermostability, which was revealed by ¹H NMR and UV/Vis spectroscopic studies, ITC, and crystallographic analysis.

Folding-induced folding for the construction of artificial hybrid helices from two different kinds of aromatic sequences is described. Linear compounds 1 a, 1 b, and 2, containing one aromatic amide trimer or pentamer and one or two aromatic 1,2,3-triazole tetramers, have been designed and synthesized. The trimeric and pentameric amide segments are driven by intramolecluar NH⋅⋅⋅F hydrogen bonding to adopt a folded or helical conformation, whereas the triazole segment is intrinsically disordered. In organic solvents of low polarity, the amide foldamer segment induces the attached triazole segment(s) to fold through intramolecular stacking, leading to the formation of hybrid helices. The helical conformation of these hybrid sequences has been confirmed by ¹H and ¹⁹F NMR spectroscopy, UV/Vis spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD) experiments, and theoretical calculations. It was found that the amide pentamer exhibits a stronger ability to induce the folding of the attached triazole segment(s) compared with that of the shorter trimer. Enantiomers (R)-3 and (S)-3, which contain an R- or S-(1-naphthyl)ethylamino group at the end of a tetraamide segment, have also been synthesized. CD experiments showed that introduction of a chiral group caused the whole framework to produce a strong helicity bias. Density-functional-theory calculations on (S)-3 suggested that this compound exists as a right-handed (P) helix.

In a preliminary letter (Tetrahedron Lett. 2010, 51, 188), we reported two new hydrazide-based quadruple hydrogen-bonding motifs, this is, two monopodal (1a and 1b) and five dipodal (2a, 2b and 3a–3c) aromatic hydrazide derivatives, and the formation of supramolecular polymers and vesicles from the dipodal motifs in hydrocarbons. In this paper, we present a full picture on the properties of these hydrogen-bonding motifs with an emphasis on their self-assembling behaviors in aqueous media. SEM, AFM, TEM and fluorescent micrographs indicate that all the dipodal compounds also form vesicles in polar methanol and water-methanol (up to 50% of water) mixtures. Control experiments show that 1b does not form vesicles in same media. Addition of 1b to the solution of the dipodal compounds inhibits the latter's capacity of forming vesicles. At high concentrations, 3b and 3c also gelate discrete solvents, including hydrocarbons, esters, methanol, and methanol-water mixture. Concentration-dependent SEM investigations reveal that the vesicles of 3b and 3c fuse to form gels and the gel of 3c can de-aggregate to form the vesicles reversibly.