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Updated: Aug 30, 2026

Phthalic Acid Ester-Binding DNA Aptamer Selection, Characterization, and Application to an Electrochemical Aptasensor
Published on: March 21, 2018
Binding of tetramethylammonium to polyether side-chained aromatic hosts. Evaluation of the binding contribution from
Sandra Bartoli1, Gina De Nicola, Stefano Roelens
1CNR, Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organometallici, Dipartimento di Chimica Organica, Università di Firenze, Polo Scientifico, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze, Italy.
Abstract:
A set of macrocyclic and open-chain aromatic ligands endowed with polyether side chains has been prepared to assess the contribution of ether oxygen donors to the binding of tetramethylammonium (TMA), a cation believed incapable of interacting with oxygen donors. The open-chain hosts consisted of an aromatic binding site and side chains possessing a variable number of ether oxygen donors; the macrocyclic ligands were based on the structure of a previously investigated host, the dimeric cyclophane 1,4-xylylene-1,4-phenylene diacetate (DXPDA), implemented with polyether-type side chains in the backbone. Association to tetramethylammonium picrate (TMAP) was measured in CDCl(3) at T = 296 K by (1)H NMR titrations. Results confirm that the main contribution to the binding of TMA comes from the cation-pi interaction established with the aromatic binding sites, but they unequivocally show that polyether chains participate with cooperative contributions, although of markedly smaller entity. Water is also bound, but the two guests interact with aromatic rings and oxygen donors in an essentially noncompetitive way. An improved procedure for the preparation of cyclophanic tetraester derivatives has been developed that conveniently recycles the oligomeric ester byproducts formed in the one-pot cyclization reaction. An alternative entry to benzylic diketones has also been provided that makes use of a low-order cyanocuprate reagent to prepare in fair yields a class of compounds otherwise uneasily accessible.
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