Towards supramolecular platonic solids using silver assisted macrocyclic recognition

In the recent years the bacteria’s antibiotic resistance has constantly been on the rise, with the number of deaths related to drug resistant infections being 700000 in 2021 and expected to reach 10 million in 2050. The urgency and importance to find a solution to the problem has led to an increased collective effort by the scientific community in the research of new drugs that could be used to treat bacterial diseases. It’s in this international research framework that the “Platonic Supramolecular Solids for antibacterial application” project, a collaboration between the Aix-Marseille University and the University of Macao, was born with the aim to prepare tetrahedron shaped supramolecular complexes containing silver and tripod-shaped benzimidazole ligands, both known for their antibiotic properties, held together thanks to their complexation with cucurbit[7]uril. The research work of the project will be divided between the groups of Dr. David Bardelang at the Aix-Marseille University, which will take care of the preparation and characterization of the tripods and of their supramolecular complexes, and the group of Dr. Fréderic Palesi at the University of Macau, which will study their biological properties. This thesis will discuss in particular the preparation and characterization of the cyclotriveratrylene (CTV) based tripod, one of the first proposed ligands whose synthesis proved successful.