Entropy-controlled supramolecular photochirogenesis: enantiodifferentiating Z-E photoisomerization of cyclooctene included and sensitized by permethylated 6-O-modified beta-cyclodextrins.

Permethylated 6-O-modified beta-cyclodextrins 2a-2d were synthesized as novel photosensitizing hosts with a flexible skeleton. Circular dichroism (CD) and 2D NMR spectral examinations of benzoate 2a revealed that the benzoate moiety is deeply included into its own cavity in aqueous solution. Upon addition of (Z)-cyclooctene (1Z) to a 50% aqueous methanol solution of 2a at 25 degrees C, the benzoate moiety of 2a was gradually excluded from the cavity as indicated by the CD spectral changes; the Job's plot revealed the formation of a 1:1 complex of 2a with 1Z. The binding constants for the complexation of 1Z by 2a were determined by CD spectral titration in 50% aqueous methanol at various temperatures. The van't Hoff analysis of the obtained data afforded the thermodynamic parameters (DeltaH degrees = -3.1 kJ mol(-1), DeltaS degrees = 48.5 J mol(-1) K(-1)), demonstrating the entropy-driven complexation by the permethylated cyclodextrin. This is in sharp contrast to the complexation of 1Z by nonmethylated beta-cyclodextrin benzoate that is driven by enthalpy (DeltaH degrees = -31.8 kJ mol(-1) and DeltaS degrees = -51.1 J mol(-1) K(-1)). Upon supramolecular photosensitization with 2a-2d, 1Z isomerized to the (E)-isomer (1E) in moderate enantiomeric excesses (ee's), which however displayed significant temperature dependence with accompanying switching of the product's chirality in an extreme case. Such dynamic behavior of ee is very different from that reported for the photosensitization with nonmethylated cyclodextrin benzoate, where the product's ee is controlled by host occupancy. Eyring treatment of the ee obtained at various temperatures (<0 degrees C) gave the differential activation parameters for the enantiodifferentiation process occurring in the supramolecular exciplex, revealing the crucial role of entropy, as indicated by the DeltaDeltaS(++) value changing dynamically from +4 to -24 J K(-1) mol(-1). The origin of the contrasting behavior of permethylated versus nonmethylated cyclodextrin hosts is inferred to be the conformational flexibility of the former host, which enables the entropy-driven guest complexation in the ground state and the entropy-controlled enantiodifferentiation in the excited state.