Clear trends in the molecular recognition of guest species by artificial hosts in solution are often observed by intrinsic enthalpy-entropy compensation, which requires the dissection of these free-energy components. Contrary to common belief, it is not the enthalpic electrostatic attraction that makes guanidinium hosts such as 1 strong binders for sulfate anions. Isothermal titration calorimetry has now allowed this molecular recognition to be characterized as an entropy-driven association.
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Berger et al. (1998) studied this question.