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With the experimental work proposed here our aim is to introduce students to the field of "supramolecular chemistry", which has been defined as chemistry beyond the molecule, bearing on the organized entities of higher complexity that result from the association of two or more chemical species held together by intermolecular forces.
We have designed two integrated experiments to serve as an introduction to the study of inclusion phenomena. The first one allows measurement, by UV-Vis spectrophotometry, of the equilibrium constant of the formation of the inclusion complex of an azo-dye (guest molecule) in an a-cyclodextrin (host molecule). In the second experiment, the kinetics of the formation of the inclusion complex of the guest molecule in the host molecule is studied.
With a view to encouraging students to reflect on certain criteria that are useful in the numerical treatment of experimental data, formalisms analogous to those of Hughes-Klotz in the analysis of ligand binding data and those of Lineweaver-Burk, Eadie-Hofstee, and Hanes used in enzyme kinetics are handled jointly, discussing the pros and cons of each of these plots.
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