Synthetic Tripodal Squaramido-Based Receptors for the Complexation of Antineoplastic Folates in Water (Eur. J. Org. Chem. 31/2011)

The cover picture shows a series of cuvettes, under UV light, after the addition of antineoplastic folates, such as folate, methotrexate, and raltitrexed, to the fluorimetric ensemble of a new tripodal squaramido‐ammonium receptor with 5‐carboxyfluorescein. The structures of the receptor and 5‐carboxyfluorescein are also shown. This is a new fluorescence ensemble developed at the University of the Balearic Islands, located in Majorca, which allows the fluorimetric quantitative determination of folate and methotrexate in commercial preparation samples. The binding constants and thermodynamic experimental results obtained by isothermal titration calorimetry show the capacity of this tripodal receptor to recognize antineoplastic folates in water. Complementary theoretical calculations and 1H NMR experiments show how the complexation takes place. Details are discussed in the article by J. Morey et al. on p. 6187 ff.