Molecular Recognition in Lamellar Solids and Thin Films

ªMolecular recognitionº describes the selective, and usu-ally noncovalent, binding of a molecule or ion to a complementary host. Such specific associations between molecules are ubiquitous in biology and include the vital functions of catalysis, immune response, transcription, replication, and biochemical signaling. They also lie at the heart of several practical chemical technologies, including chemical sensing, separations, and catalysis. In light of the important place that molecular recogni-tion holds in chemistry, the design and discovery of better hosts remain a worthy challenge. Historically, this chal-lenge has been taken up by organic chemists, who have elaborated the principles of host-guest chemistry and have synthesized a wide variety of hosts with high affinity and selectivity.1 It has been correctly noted, however, tha