Supramolecular Chemistry and Complexes

Supramolecular chemistry examines how molecules organize themselves into larger, functional structures through reversible, non-covalent interactions—such as hydrogen bonding, electrostatics, and the selective embrace of one molecule inside another (host-guest recognition)—rather than through the permanent bonds that conventional organic chemistry manipulates. This perspective has made it possible to design molecular machines, self-assembling cages, and nanoscale containers like cucurbiturils that can capture, release, or transform guest molecules on demand, with real consequences for drug delivery, catalysis, and materials design. Active research is pushing toward systems that operate far from equilibrium, sustaining directed motion or structural change by consuming chemical fuel the way biological motors do, and toward dynamic covalent frameworks that combine the adaptability of non-covalent assembly with the robustness of ordinary bonds. A central open question is how to encode sufficiently complex, error-correcting information into molecular components so that large, precisely structured architectures assemble reliably—bridging the gap between the elegant simplicity of small host-guest pairs and the intricate machinery of living cells.

Works

37,554

Total citations

906,137

Keywords

Supramolecular ChemistryMolecular MachinesSelf-AssemblyHost-Guest InteractionsCoordination ChemistryCucurbiturils