ACROSS

Solvophobic effect is a prevalent driving force for host-guest chemistry. Like H2O, perfluorocarbons (PFCs) are attractive solvents for supramolecular receptor confinement. A new poly-acridinium receptors will be confined in PFCs and in H2O and will be exploited to give rise to the selective extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from an organic source phase to a receiving phase across a transporting phase (PFC or H2O). In this fundamental proposal, light will used to drive the selective transportation of the PAH guests out-of-equilibrium to enrich the receiving phase with the desired solute. Finally, a systematic comparative study between PFCs and H2O will allow the estimate of the enthalpic and entropic contributions of both solvents in order to rationalize their solvophobic effect.