A bowl-shaped organic host using bispyridine ligands: selective encapsulation of carbonyl guests in water.

A bowl-shaped organic host was prepared by linking two anthracene-embedded bispyridine ligands with two methylene spacers. The water-soluble host has a hemispherical hydrophobic cavity (∼1 nm in diameter) with two cationic methylenebispyridinyl (Lewis acidic) moieties and shows the selective recognition and encapsulation of aromatic guest molecules containing carbonyl groups in water.