Cryptands are a family of synthetic bi- and polycyclic multidentate ligands for a variety of cations. The Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1987 was given to Donald J. Cram, Jean-Marie Lehn, and Charles J. Pedersen for their efforts in discovering and determining uses of cryptands and crown ethers, thus launching the now flourishing field of supramolecular chemistry. The term cryptand implies that this ligand binds substrates in a crypt, interring the...
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Cryptands are a family of synthetic bi- and polycyclic multidentate ligands for a variety of cations. The Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1987 was given to Donald J. Cram, Jean-Marie Lehn, and Charles J. Pedersen for their efforts in discovering and determining uses of cryptands and crown ethers, thus launching the now flourishing field of supramolecular chemistry. The term cryptand implies that this ligand binds substrates in a crypt, interring the guest as in a burial. These molecules are three dimensional analogues of crown ethers but are more selective and complex the guest ions more strongly. The resulting complexes are lipophilic.
The most common and most important cryptand is N[CH2CH2OCH2CH2OCH2CH2]3N; the formal IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) name for this compound is 1,10-diaza-4,7,13,16,21,24-hexaoxabicyclo[8.8.8]hexacosane. This compound is termed [2.2.2]cryptand where the numbers indicate the number of ether oxygen atoms (and hence binding sites) in...
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