Cucurbituril as a New Macrocyclic Ligand for Complexation of Lanthanide Cations in Aqueous Solutions

(Aqua)lanthanide complexes with cucurbituril {[Gd(NO3)(H2O)4](C36H36N24O12)}(NO3)2·7H2O (1), {[Gd(NO3)(C2H5OH)(H2O)3](C36H36N24O12)}(NO3)2·5.5H2O (2), {[Ho(NO3)(H2O)4](C36H36N24O12)}(NO3)2·7H2O (3), {[Yb(NO3)(H2O)4](C36H36N24O12)}(NO3)2·6H2O (4), {[La(H2O)6(SO4)](C36H36N24O12)}(NO3)·12H2O (5), {[Gd(H2O)4]2(C36H36N24O12)3}Br6·45H2O (6), and {[Ce(H2O)5]2(C36H36N24O12)2}Br6·26H2O (7) were obtained in high yield by reaction of cucurbituril with aqueous solutions of lanthanide(III) species. The crystal structures of the compounds show a packing of 1:1, 2:2, and 2:3 in the (cucurbituril)lanthanide complexes in which cucurbituril plays a bidentate ligand role, and water molecules of the (aqua)lanthanide complexes form hydrogen bonds with carbonyl groups of the cucurbituril molecule. The guest water molecule is situated in the cucurbituril molecule cavity of 2 and 5. The crystal structure of 6 is a packing of three-deck sandwiches, built from alternating cucurbituril molecules and Gd(H2O)43+ ions. The largest distance between outermost oxygen atoms in the sandwiches is 30.04 Å. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2002)