Resorcinarene bis-thiacrowns: prospective host molecules for silver encapsulation

Mixed-donor atom tetramethoxy resorcinarene bis-thiacrown hosts, in which the crown unit contains both hard oxygen and soft sulfur donor atoms, were synthesized for soft metal cation binding. The binding properties were investigated both in solution and in the solid state by NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. It was found that the resorcinarene bis-thiacrowns were able to complex silver cations with remarkable affinity forming readily 1:2 host-guest complexes in solution. The solid state structures also revealed that the bis-thiacrowns form silver complexes in an unanticipated endo- and exo-cavity fashion within the same host molecule. Both the solution and solid state studies indicated the sulfur atoms to be the major contributing donor atoms in forming the binding interactions with silver cations.