Maëlle Bottin

@AgnieszkaSzumna [...] but rather a neutral receptor able to recognize anions through hydrogen bonding.

@BicheRobot Could you comment more on applications of DCC for this particular problem? I have some doubts, because the final receptor is supposed to be a protonated amine or hydrazine while the DCC selection step involves imines and hydrazones (different geometry, different protonation)

@AgnieszkaSzumna Thank you for your question! The idea with DCC was to use similar building blocks as in the immine cage synthesis approach. However, here the formation of hydrazide or hydrazone bonds would not provide a positively charged receptor, [...]

This is why we are trying to use different building blocks, were the angle between the two aldehyde units could vary the size of the cage's cavity.

Thank you for your questions! The cavitand mainly recognize anions by electrostatic interactions once the cavitand is protonated. We hope to discriminate selenate from sulfate based on the slight difference of size between those.