Synthesis of Water-Soluble Deep-Cavity Cavitands

An
efficient, four-step synthesis of a range of water-soluble, deep-cavity
cavitands is presented. Key to this approach are octahalide derivatives
(4, X = Cl or Br) that allow a range of water-solubilizing
groups to be added to the outer surface of the core host structure.
In many cases, the conversion of the starting dodecol (1) resorcinarene to the different cavitands avoids any chromatographic
procedures.