Cation binding resorcinarene bis-crowns: the effect of lower rim alkyl chain length on crystal packing and solid lipid nanoparticles

A group of seven resorcinarene bis-crown ethers (CNBC5) with two polyether bridges at the upper rim and either propyl, butyl, pentyl, heptyl, nonyl, decyl or undecyl groups at the lower rim were synthesized and their binding properties with Cs+ were investigated by NMR titration. The bis-crowns form 1:2 complexes with Cs+ with binding constants of logK 4–5. Crystal structures of bis-crowns and their Cs+ and K+ complexes were studied and different packing motifs were found depending on the alkyl chain length. Short ethyl, propyl and butyl alkyl chains gave a layer or pillar packing where the polar and non-polar regions cannot be distinguished, whereas longer pentyl and decyl chains formed bi…