Additivities of Electrostatic and Hydrophobic Interactions in Host–Guest Complexes

If electrostatic forces dominate the binding in host–guest complexes, then each ion-pair interaction makes a surprisingly uniform contribution of 5 ± 1 kJ mol−1 to the overall binding. This result was obtained from a detailed study of the binding in a series of host compounds, including the macrocyclic tetraphenolate 1.