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Of central importance in chemistry and biology, enolate chemistry is an attractive topic to elaborate on possible contributions of anion-π interactions to catalysis. To demonstrate the existence of such contributions, experimental evidence for the stabilization of not only anions but also anionic intermediates and transition states on π-acidic aromatic surfaces is decisive. To tackle this challenge for enolate chemistry with maximal precision and minimal uncertainty, malonate dilactones are covalently positioned on the π-acidic surface of naphthalenediimides (NDIs). Their presence is directly visible in the upfield shifts of the α-protons in the (1) H NMR spectra. The reactivity of these protons on π-acidic surfaces is measured by hydrogen-deuterium (H-D) exchange for 11 different examples, excluding controls. The velocity of H-D exchange increases with π acidity (NDI core substituents: SO2 R>SOR>H>OR>OR/NR2 >SR>NR2 ). The H-D exchange kinetics vary with the structure of the enolate (malonates>methylmalonates, dilactones>dithiolactones). Moreover, they depend on the distance to the π surface (bridge length: 11-13 atoms). Most importantly, H-D exchange depends strongly on the chirality of the π surface (chiral sulfoxides as core substituents; the crystal structure of the enantiopure (R,R,P)-macrocycle is reported). For maximal π acidity, transition-state stabilizations up to -18.8 kJ mol(-1) are obtained for H-D exchange. The Brønsted acidity of the enols increases strongly with π acidity of the aromatic surface, the lowest measured pKa =10.9 calculates to a ΔpKa =-5.5. Corresponding to the deprotonation of arginine residues in neutral water, considered as "impossible" in biology, the found enolate-π interactions are very important. The strong dependence of enolate stabilization on the unprecedented seven-component π-acidity gradient over almost 1 eV demonstrates quantitatively that such important anion-π activities can be expected only from strong enough π acids., (© 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

General synthetic access to expanded π-acidic surfaces of variable size, topology, chirality, and π acidity is reported. The availability of π surfaces with these characteristics is essential to develop the functional relevance of anion-π interactions with regard to molecular recognition, translocation, and transformation. The problem is that, with expanded π surfaces, the impact of electron-withdrawing substituents decreases and the high π acidity needed for strong anion-π interactions can be more difficult to obtain. To overcome this problem, it is herein proposed to build large surfaces from smaller fragments and connect these fragments with bridges that are composed only of single atoms. Two central surfaces for powerful anion-π interactions, namely, perfluoroarenes and naphthalenediimides (NDIs), were selected as fragments and coupled with through sulfide bridges. Their oxidation to sulfoxides and sulfones, as well as fluorine substitution in the peripheral rings, provides access to the full chemical space of relevant π acidities. According to cyclic voltammetry, LUMO levels range from -3.96 to -4.72 eV. With sulfoxide bridges, stereogenic centers are introduced to further enrich the intrinsic planar chirality of the expanded surfaces. The stereoisomers were separated by chiral HPLC and characterized by X-ray crystallography. Their topologies range from chairs to π boats, and the latter are reminiscent of the cation-π boxes in operational neuronal receptors. With pentafluorophenyl acceptors, the π acidity of NDIs with two sulfoxide groups in the core reaches -4.45 eV, whereas two sulfone moieties give a value of -4.72 eV, which is as low as with four ethyl sulfone groups, that is, a π superacid near the limit of existence. Beyond anion-π interactions, these conceptually innovative π-acidic surfaces are also of interest as electron transporters in conductive materials., (© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

This work illustrates how minor structural perturbations produced by methylation of 4'-(dodecyloxy)-4-cyanobiphenyl leads to enthalpy-entropy compensation for their melting processes, a trend which can be analyzed within the frame of a simple intermolecular cohesive model. The transformation of the melting thermodynamic parameters collected at variable temperatures into cohesive free-energy densities expressed at a common reference temperature results in a novel linear correlation, from which melting temperatures can be simply predicted from molecular volumes., (Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

The axial connection of flexible thioalkyls chains of variable length (n=1-12) within the segmental bis-tridentate 2-benzimidazole-8-hydroxyquinoline ligands [L12(Cn) -2 H](2-) provides amphiphilic receptors designed for the synthesis of neutral dinuclear lanthanides helicates. However, the stoichiometric mixing of metals and ligands in basic media only yields intricate mixtures of poorly soluble aggregates. The addition of Ag(I) in solution restores classical helicate architectures for n=3, with the quantitative formation of the discrete D(3) -symmetrical [Ln(2) Ag2(L12(C3) -2 H)(3) ](2+) complexes at millimolar concentration (Ln=La, Eu, Lu). The X-ray crystal structure supports the formation of [La(2) Ag(2) (L12(C3) -2 H)(3) ][OTf](2) , which exists in the solid state as infinite linear polymers bridged by S-Ag-S bonds. In contrast, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in the gas phase and in solution confirm the experimental diffusion measurements, which imply the formation of discrete molecular entities in these media, in which the sulfur atoms of each lipophilic ligand are rapidly exchanged within the Ag(I) coordination sphere. Turned as a predictive tool, MD suggests that this Ag(I) templating effect is efficient only for n=1-3, while for n>3 very loose interactions occur between Ag(I) and the thioalkyl residues. The subsequent experimental demonstration that only 25 % of the total ligand speciation contributes to the formation of [Ln(2) Ag(2) (L12(C12) -2 H)(3) ](2+) in solution puts the bases for a rational approach for the design of amphiphilic helical complexes with predetermined molecular interfaces., (Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

The recognition and transport of anions is usually accomplished by hydrogen bonding, ion pairing, metal coordination, and anion-dipole interactions. Here, we elaborate on the concept to use anion-pi interactions for this purpose. Different to the popular cation-pi interactions, applications of the complementary pi-acidic surfaces do not exist. This is understandable because the inversion of the aromatic quadrupole moment to produce pi-acidity is a rare phenomenon. Here, we suggest that pi-acidic aromatics can be linked together to produce an unbendable scaffold with multiple binding sites for anions to move along across a lipid bilayer membrane. The alignment of multiple anion-pi sites is needed to introduce a cooperative multi-ion hopping mechanism. Experimental support for the validity of the concept comes from preliminary results with oligonaphthalenediimide (O-NDI) rods. Predicted by strongly positive facial quadrupole moments, the cooperativity and chloride selectivity found for anion transport by O-NDI rods were consistent with the existence of anion-pi slides. The proposed mechanism for anion transport is supported by DFT results for model systems, as well as MD simulations of rigid O-NDI rods. Applicability of anion-pi slides to achieve electroneutral photosynthesis is elaborated with the readily colorizable oligoperylenediimide (O-PDI) rods. To clarify validity, scope and limitations of these concepts, a collaborative research effort will be needed to address by computer modeling and experimental observations the basic questions in simple model systems and to design advanced multifunctional anion-pi architectures.

Chiral framework: Chiral amines with pyrrolidine frameworks catalyze the enantioselective conjugate addition of a wide range of aldehydes to various vinyl sulfones and vinyl phosphonates in high yields and with enantioselectivities up to >99 % ee (see scheme). The high versatility of the Michael adducts is exemplified by various functionalizations with conservation of the optical purity.Chiral amines with a pyrrolidine framework catalyze the enantioselective conjugate addition of a broad range of aldehydes to various vinyl sulfones and vinyl phosphonates in high yields and with enantioselectivities up to >99 % ee. This novel process provides synthetically useful chiral gamma-gem-sulfonyl or phosphonyl aldehydes which can be widely functionalized with retention of the enantiomeric excess. Mechanistic insights including DFT calculations are explored in detail.

Supramolecular pi-stack architecture is fundamental in DNA chemistry but absent in biological and synthetic ion channels and pores. Here, a novel rigid-rod pi-stack architecture is introduced to create synthetic ion channels with characteristics that are at the forefront of rational design, that is, ligand gating by a conformational change of the functional supramolecule. Namely, the intercalation of electron-rich aromatics is designed to untwist inactive electron-poor helical pi-stacks without internal space into open barrel-stave ion channels. Conductance experiments in planar lipid bilayers corroborate results from spherical bilayers and molecular modeling: Highly cooperative and highly selective ligand gating produces small, long-lived, weakly anion selective, ohmic ion channels. Structural studies conducted under conditions relevant for function provide experimental support for helix-barrel transition as origin of ligand gating. Control experiments demonstrate that minor structural changes leading to internal decrowding suffice to cleanly annihilate chiral self-organization and function.