Publications

2017

Murray, J.; Kim, K.; Ogoshi, T.; Yao, W.; Gibb, B. C. The aqueous supramolecular chemistry of cucurbit[n]urils, pillar[n]arenes and deep-cavity cavitands. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2017, 46, 2479-2496.
This tutorial review summarizes the continuing exploration of three prominent water-soluble hosts: cucurbiturils, pillar[n]arenes and deep-cavity cavitands. As we describe, these hosts are revealing how orchestrating the hydrophobic effect can lead to a broad range of properties and applications, from: nano-reactors, supramolecular polymers, stimuli-responsive biointerfaces, switches, and novel purification devices. We also describe how their study is also revealing more details about the properties of water and aqueous solutions.

2016

Hillyer, M. B.; Gibb, B. C. Molecular Shape and the Hydrophobic Effect. Annual Review of Physical Chemistry 2016, 67, 307-329.
This review focuses on papers published since 2000 on the topic of the properties of solutes in water. More specifically, it evaluates the state of the art of our understanding of the complex relationship between the shape of a hydrophobe and the hydrophobic effect. To highlight this, we present a selection of references covering both empirical and molecular dynamics studies of small (molecular-scale) solutes. These include empirical studies of small molecules, synthetic hosts, crystalline monolayers, and proteins, as well as in silico investigations of entities such as idealized hard and soft spheres, small solutes, hydrophobic plates, artificial concavity, molecular hosts, carbon nanotubes and spheres, and proteins.

2015