Mirror-image cyclodextrin makes it into C&EN’s Molecules of the Year for 2024 list; please, vote!

Mirror-image cyclodextrins (CDs), or L-CDs, which have already been elaborated by unnatural product synthesis (1) from commercially available L-glucose and reported (2) in the June Issue of Nature Synthesis this summer, have been picked by the Editors at C&EN to be among the coolest molecules that were reported in the chemical literature in 2024. The research, which constitutes a fundamental addition to the cyclodextrin toolbox, is a collaboration between Professor Sir Fraser Stoddart’s team in the Department of Chemistry (Faculty of Science, The University of Hong Kong) and Professor Daniel Armstrong’s team in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (University of Texas at Arlington, United States). Because the mirror-image CDs have unnatural stereochemistry, their bio-stabilities are much more robust (3) than those of their natural counterparts, making them potentially useful in drug and product formulation, or as active pharmaceutical ingredients (4,5).

In addition to α-L-CD, five (super)molecules are also gracing the Molecules of the Year list. They include (i) a supramolecular shuttle in a box (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2024, 63, e202318829), (ii) a soluble promethium complex (Nature 2024, 629, 819−823), (iii) a compound with single-electron carbon–carbon bond (Nature 2024, 634, 347–351), (iv) anti-Bret’s rule molecules (Science 2024, 386, eadq3519), and (v) a ZnH-studded metal–organic framework (Science 2024, 386, 814–819).

For more information about all six selections of Molecules of the Year for 2024 by the Editors at C&EN, please refer to a corresponding Poll using the following link: https://cen.acs.org/sections/moty-poll.html

GIF below – A rotating α-L-CD shown as a stick representation selected as one of C&EN’s Molecules of the Year for 2024:

References

1. Stoddart, J. F. Unnatural product synthesis. Nature 1988, 334, 10–11.
2. Wu, Y., Aslani, S., Han, H., Tang, C., Wu, G., Li, X., Wu, H., Stern, C. L., Guo, Q.-H., Qiu, Y., Chen, A. X.-Y., Jiao, Y., Zhang, R., David, A. H. G., Armstrong, D. W., Stoddart, J. F. Mirror-image cyclodextrins. Nat. Synth. 2024, 3, 698–706.
3. Armstrong, D. W., Aslani, S., Nafie, J., Wu, Y., Stoddart, J. F. Actions and interactions of mirror-image cyclodextrins. JACS Au 2024, accepted for publication.
4. Beeren, S. R. Synthesis of L-cyclodextrins. Nat. Synth. 2024, 3, 671–672.
5. Halford, B. Cyclodextrins, reflected. C&EN 2024, 102, 4.