Exploration of the polymorphic solid-state landscape of an amide-linked organic cage using computation and automation

Shields, Caitlin Elise; Fellowes, Thomas; Slater, Anna Grace; Cooper, Andrew; Andrews, Keith G; Szczypiński, Filip Tomasz

Abstract

Organic cages can possess complex, functionalised cavities that make them promising candidates for synthetic enzyme mimics. Conformationally flexible, chemically robust structures are needed for adaptable guest binding and catalysis, but rapidly exchanging systems are difficult to resolve in solution. Here, we use low-cost calculations and high-throughput crystallisation to identify accessible conformers of a recently reported organic cage by ‘locking’ them in the solid state. The conformers exhibit varying distances between the internal carboxylic acid groups, suggesting adaptability for binding a wide array of target guest molecules.

Citation

Shields, C. E., Fellowes, T., Slater, A. G., Cooper, A., Andrews, K. G., & Szczypiński, F. T. (2024). Exploration of the polymorphic solid-state landscape of an amide-linked organic cage using computation and automation. Chemical Communications, 60(47), 6023-6026. https://doi.org/10.1039/d4cc01407c

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 1, 2024
• Online Publication Date: May 2, 2024
• Publication Date: Jun 14, 2024
• Deposit Date: May 14, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: May 15, 2024
• Journal: Chemical Communications
• Print ISSN: 1359-7345
• Electronic ISSN: 1364-548X
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 60
• Issue: 47
• Pages: 6023-6026
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/d4cc01407c
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2438876