Macrocyclic structures are popular in supramolecular chemistry and have enjoyed considerable success as platforms for elaboration to container compounds and new materials. Host/guest studies in organic media have relied heavily on structures derived from crown ethers, calixarenes, cucurbiturils, resorcinarenes and pillararenes over the past decades. More recently, their water-soluble versions have been developed for potential applications in biology. Inspired by nature and the need for large-sized containers, Cao and co-workers have designed and synthesized a series of novel macrocyclic hosts based on the tetraphenylethylene (TPE) platform. These compounds have cationic frameworks with well-defined hydrophobic cavities for recognition of biomolecules (e.g. amino acids, nucleosides, peptides, proteins, coenzyme factors) in water. They offer multiple adaptive responses as sensors through fluorescence, circular dichroism and circularly polarized luminescence. These TPE-based hosts also show promising applications as stimuli-responsive fluorescent materials, in drug delivery and as artificial photofunctional systems. Herein, this review highlights this work as it establishes a new class of biomimetic, water-soluble supramolecular macrocyclic hosts.

中文翻译：

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新型四苯乙烯基大环主体在水中的应用研究进展


大环结构在超分子化学中很受欢迎，并作为制备容器化合物和新材料的平台取得了相当大的成功。在过去的几十年里，有机介质中的宿主/客体研究在很大程度上依赖于来自冠醚、葫芦芳烃、葫芦脲、间苯二酚和柱芳烃的结构。最近，他们的水溶性版本已被开发用于生物学中的潜在应用。受到大自然和对大型容器需求的启发，Cao 和他的同事基于四苯乙烯 （TPE） 平台设计并合成了一系列新型大环宿主。这些化合物具有阳离子框架和明确的疏水腔，用于识别水中的生物分子（例如氨基酸、核苷、肽、蛋白质、辅酶因子）。它们通过荧光、圆二色性和圆偏振发光作为传感器提供多种自适应响应。这些基于 TPE 的宿主还显示出作为刺激响应荧光材料、药物递送和人工光功能系统的有前途的应用。在此，这篇综述重点介绍了这项工作，因为它建立了一类新的仿生、水溶性超分子大环宿主。