Ion-controlled switchable complexation between pentiptycene-based tweezer-like hosts and self-folding guests

A couple of self-folding A-D-A guests were synthesized, and it was found that the guests could be included by the pentiptycene-based tweezer-like hosts to form stable 1:1 complexes in solution, which have been evidenced by the 1H NMR, ROESY 2D NMR and ESI MS spectra. Moreover, a potassium ion-controlled switchable process between the host and the self-folding guest was further achieved.