A highly preorganized, artificial receptor for guanidinium cations binds arginine with high affinity in polar solvents, even in water! The X-ray crystal structure of its bis(N-ethylguanidinium) complex shows the formation of hydrogen bonds between the receptor and the guest (see picture). This observation explains the strength of the complex formed with the dipeptide diarginine (K(d)=50 µM in H(2)O).
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Bell et al. (1999) studied this question.
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