PSEUDOROTAXANES FORMED BETWEEN SECONDARY DIALKYLAMMONIUM SALTS AND CROWN-ETHERS

A very simple self-assembling system, which produces inclusion complex es with pseudorotaxane geometries, is described. The self-assembly of eight pseudorotaxanes with a range of stoichiometries-1:1, 1:2, 2.1, a nd 2:2 (host:guest)-has been achieved. These pseudorotaxanes self-asse mble from readily available components-well-known crown ethers, such a s dibenzo[24]crown-8 and bis-p-phenylene[34]crown-10, and secondary di alkylammonium hexafluorophosphate salts, such as (PhCH(2))(2)- NH2+PF6 - and (nBu)(2)NH2+PF6- -and have been characterized not only in the so lid state, but also in solution and in the ''gas phase''. The pseudoro taxanes are stabilized largely by hydrogen-bonding interactions and, i n some instances, by aryl-aryl interactions.