Introduction to supramolecular chemistry

This chapter provides an overview of supramolecular chemistry, which broadly comprises of two main themes: host–guest chemistry and self-assembly. The control of intermolecular interactions codified through concepts of supramolecular chemistry underpins every aspect of modern chemistry today. The concepts of preorganization and host–guest complementarity govern the design of many supramolecular synthons capable of interacting with one another via a wide range of non-covalent interactions. The chapter notes how the design of receptors for target guest species needs to take into account the nature of the solvent in which the host–guest association takes place, which can be exploited to influence guest affinity and selectivity. Of the numerous techniques used to study supramolecular host–guest complexes, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is the most versatile and can offer a wealth of structural, kinetic, and thermodynamic information on recognition processes in solution.