Dynamic control of chiral space

Responsive molecular systems are systems, which upon external stimuli; produce observable changes of physical or chemical properties. Those changes are typically the result of configurational or conformational changes. They have recently gained a lot of interest in the scientific community in attempts to mimic dynamic functions in biological systems. One of the fascinating potential applications of responsive systems lies in catalysis. Inspired by Nature, novel responsive catalytic systems are built, which show analogy with allosteric regulation of enzymes. The design of responsive catalytic systems allows control of catalytic activity and selectivity. A major part of the research presented in this thesis deals with the design, synthesis and properties of novel responsive systems capable of dynamic control over catalytic functions. Apart from that, exploring the dynamic control of chiral space was pushed even further, by investigating the possibility of dynamic chiral anion binding.Overall, the research presented in this thesis contributes to the better understanding of how space restricted by chiral boundaries, can create a chiral environment at the molecular scale, and how this environment can be controlled in a dynamic fashion. Dynamic switching of such “chiral space” can e.g., be used to control the basic parameters of a catalytic function: activity and selectivity. Also, it could be used to switch the affinity towards anions, and even control the enantioselectivity in binding chiral anions