Syntheses of diethyleneoxy bridged cryptophanes and their complexing abilities with alkali metal and alkylammonium cations

Abstract

The anti- and syn-diethyleneoxy bridged cryptophanes (3a and 3b) were prepared by the direct trimerization of 1,5-bis[(4-hydroxymethyl)-2-methoxyphenoxy]-3-oxapentane, which was obtained by the reaction of diethyleneglycol ditosylate with vanillyl alcohol and/or by stepwise methods from vanillyl alcohol. The syn isomer (3b) showed highly selective complexing abilities for cesium, and the tetraethylammonium and triethylmethylammonium cations as compared with those of the anti isomer (3a).