Supramolecular Chemical Biology: Designed Receptors and Dynamic Chemical Systems

Abstract

Supramolecular chemistry focuses on the study of species joined by non-covalent intreactions, therefore dynamic and relatively ill defined structures. Despite being a well-developed field, it has to face important challenges when dealing with the selective recognition of biomolecules in highly competitive biomimetic media. However, supramolecular interactions reside at the core of chemical biology systems, since many processes in Nature are goberned by weak, non-covalent, strongly dynamic contacts. Therefore, there is a natural connection between these two research fields, which are not frequently related or sharing inetrests. In this feature article, I will highligh our most recent results in the molecular recognition of biologically relevant species, following different conceptual approaches from the most conventional design of ellaborated receptors to the less popular dynamic combinatorial chemistry methodology. Selected illustrative examples from other groups will be also included. The discussion has been mainly focused on systems with potential biomedical applications.