Cavity-containing supramolecular gels as a crystallization tool for hydrophobic pharmaceuticals

We present two approaches to low-molecular-weight supramolecular gels bearing hydrophobic cavities based on calixarene-containing building blocks. Gels are formed by a calixarene based tetrahydrazide gelator or a co-gel of a calixarene diammonium salt and a bis-crown ether. The calixarene hydrophobic cavity enables the complexation of hydrophobic drug molecules in a generic fashion thus providing an anchor site on the surface of the gel fibre to initiate drug crystal nucleation and growth. This technique potentially represents a route to growth of hard-to-nucleate polymorphic modifications. The co-gel comprising two components holding together by non-covalent ammonium-crown ether interaction can be easily switched back to the sol state by adding competitive binding cations.