Abstract
Recent development of organic synthetic method has enables us to constract elaborated molecular systems. Therefore, much effort has been devoted to the construction, being due to the requirement of the understanding of biological aspects in microscopic level and the exploration of bio-inspired materials. As for the strategy of the molecular design, information-relay based on host-guest interaction is of particular importance. This critical review mainly focuses on our recent approach in synthetic molecular systems, which are characterized by combined “host-guest interactions” and “optical functions” as following directions. First, a simple fluorescent-active sensor comprising a naphthalene-thiouronium dyad has been described, the design of which is mainly our idea that anion recognition events on the electron-deficient binding site of the thiouronium moiety would be efficiently communicated to the fluorescent property of naphthalene via the change of a photoinduced electron transfer process. Second, a new chromophore-derived calix [4] crown as a potential use of a molecular photonic system possesses an effective "off-on-off' signaling for metal cationic inputs, the controllable signal function may being welcome for new materials. Finally, nonlinear optical (NLO) -active receptors based on a dibenzo-diaza-crown ether system has been developed, the estimation being conducted by using hyper-Rayleigh scattering method so that the hyperpolarizability (β) has been regulated by the guest recognition in the crowned cavity of the system. New trend of chromogenic molecular systems has been discussed from point of view of host-guest chemistry.
