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Updated: Jan 22, 2026

From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
A Potent Halogen-Bonding Donor Motif for Anion Recognition and Anion Template Mechanical Bond Synthesis
Thanthapatra Bunchuay1,2, Andrew Docker1, Antonio J Martinez-Martinez1
1Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Chemistry Research Laboratory, Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3TA, UK.
Abstract:
The covalent attachment of electron deficient perfluoroaryl substituents to a bis-iodotriazole pyridinium group produces a remarkably potent halogen bonding donor motif for anion recognition in aqueous media. Such a motif also establishes halogen bonding anion templation as a highly efficient method for constructing a mechanically interlocked molecule in unprecedented near quantitative yield. The resulting bis-perfluoroaryl substituted iodotriazole pyridinium axle containing halogen bonding [2]rotaxane host exhibits exceptionally strong halide binding affinities in competitive 50 % water containing aqueous media, by a factor of at least three orders of magnitude greater in comparison to a hydrogen bonding rotaxane host analogue. These observations further champion and advance halogen bonding as a powerful tool for recognizing anions in aqueous media.
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