Technology Opportunities

There are four main known families of macrocyclic host molecules based on specific host-guest reversible binding that are employed in a wide range of applications in chemistry, biology, the food industry, electronics or printing. Despite this, for more than a decade, no new family of macrocyclic host molecules has been discovered and the known macrocycles are usually limited to specific applications according to their chemical nature and binding properties. These new molecules called Calixurenes are the first binding macrocycles that contain thiourea combined with aromatic fragments and phenolic functions. This unique combination of functional groups in the same molecule is expected to produce unprecedented binding strength with high selectivity to almost any metal in any oxidation state as well as binding properties expected to be independent of the environment.