Driving Forces Controlling Host-Guest Recognition in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Solvent.

The formation of supramolecular host-guest complexes is a very useful and widely employed tool in chemistry. However, supramolecular chemistry in non-conventional solvents such as supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO₂), one of the most promising sustainable solvents, is still in its infancy. In this work, we explored a successful route to the development of green processes in supercritical CO₂ by combining a theoretical approach with experiments. We were able to synthesize and characterize an inclusion complex between a polar aromatic molecule (benzoic acid) and peracetylated-β-cyclodextrin, which is soluble in the supercritical medium. This finding opens the way to wide, environmental friendly, applications of scCO₂ in many areas of chemistry, including supramolecular synthesis, reactivity and catalysis, micro and nano-particle formation, molecular recognition, as well as enhanced extraction processes with increased selectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]