New host-guest chemistry of supramolecular nanotubes

Supramolecular nanotubes derived from naphthalenediimide (NDI) dicarboxylic acids can act in chloroform solution as size-selective receptors for a range of guests including pyrenes and aromatic and aliphatic ion pairs. CD spectroscopy indicates that the nanotube remains intact after complexation. Guest binding increases in the presence of low concentrations of added methanol, perhaps indicating that the binding process is primarily solvophobic.