Anion Binding: Self‐Assembly of Polypyrrolic Macrocycles

Anion complexation drives the self-assembly of appropriately designed macrocycles (sapphyrin and/or calix[4]pyrrole) containing pendant carboxylic arms (black in the schematic representation on the right). The self-assembly process can be disrupted by addition of F− ions (sapphyrin) or in the case of calix[4]pyrrole, polar solvents.