Biomimetic cavities and bioinspired receptors.
Résumé
This review highlights biomimetic cavities and bioinspired receptors. Systems derived from the third generation of ligands, where the polyaza donor covalently caps the calixarene. This system opened the route to a variety of receptors, with or without metal ions, displaying highly specific properties tuned by the nature of the aza cap. Self-assembled and polarized cavities, reminiscent of nonmetallic but structured proteins, illustrate other biomimetic concepts such as allosterism, for which flexibility is a key feature. [on SciFinder(R)]