Equilibrium Chemistry - Host-guest Equilibria

Host-guest Equilibria

A host-guest complex, also known as a donor-acceptor complex, may be formed from a Lewis base, B, and a Lewis acid, A. The host may be either a donor or an acceptor. In biochemistry host-guest complexes are known as receptor-ligand complexes; they are formed primarily by non-covalent bonding. Many host-guest complexes has 1:1 stoichiometry, but many others have more complex structures. The general equilibrium can be written as

pA +qB A_pB_q

The study of these complexes is important for supramolecular chemistry and molecular recognition. The objective of these studies is often to find systems with a high binding selectivity of a host (receptor) for a particular target molecule or ion, the guest or ligand. An application is the development of chemical sensors. Finding a drug which either blocks a receptor, an antagonist which forms a strong complex the receptor, or activate it, an agonist, is an important pathway to drug discovery.