Dibenzoarsacrowns: an experimental and computational study on the coordination behaviors

Abstract

Dibenzoarsacrowns have been synthesized as a novel class of heteroatom-fused crown ethers. The dibenzoarsacrowns can size-selectively capture alkali metal cations, and the arsenic atoms chemoselectively coordinated to gold(I) chloride (AuCl) due to the soft Lewis acid–base interaction. It is notable that the AuCl complex of 21-dibenzoarsacrown-7 further encapsulated Na⁺ with the enhanced association constant from bare 21-dibenzoarsacrown-7. The positive allosteric effect was studied computationally.