Molecular recognition and supramolecular chemistry in the gas phase

Supramolecular chemistry, in particular, the fields of molecular recognition and self-assembly, profit much from the development of soft ionization techniques and advanced methods for mass analysis and gas-phase chemistry. Vice versa, weakly bonded architectures and host-guest complexes represent a veritable challenge for the mass spectrometrist, leading to further development of methods and techniques. This review describes the state-of-the-art in this field, and includes topics such as the effects of solvation on meta binding to crown ethers, chiral discrimination of guests by chiral hosts, the elucidation of the secondary structure of self assembled complexes, and the mechanistic pathways of self assembly or the fragmentations of supramolecular complexes in the gas phase.