Tight Xenon Confinement in a Crystalline Sandwich-like Hydrogen-Bonded Dimeric Capsule of a Cyclic Peptide

Abstract

A cyclic hexapeptide with three pyridyl moieties connected to its backbone forms a hydrogen-bonded dimer, which tightly encapsulates a single xenon atom, like a pearl in its shell. The dimer imprints its shape and symmetry to the captured xenon atom, as demonstrated by ¹²⁹ Xe NMR spectroscopy, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and computational studies. The dimers self-assemble hierarchically into tubular structures to form a porous supramolecular architecture, whose cavities are filled by small molecules and gases.

Keywords: cyclic peptides; gas confinement; host--guest systems; self-assembly; xenon.