Conformational analysis of 12-crown-3 and sodium ion selectivity of electrodes based on bis(12-crown-3) derivatives with malonate spacers Original Research Article

A conformational analysis was performed on two crown ethers (12-crown-3 and 12-crown-4) using a combination of semi-empirical and ab initio methods. The lowest conformations of 12-crown-3 and 12-crown-4 were found to have exodentate C3v and C2 structure, respectively. In the case of the sandwich-type complexation, the nucleophilic cavity of 12-crown-3 rather than that of 12-crown-4 seemed to be optimal for complexation with the Na+ ion. Four new bis(12-crown-3) derivatives (1–4) were examined as potential sodium ion-selective ionophores in poly(vinylchloride) (PVC) membrane electrodes. The ion-selective electrode (ISE) based on di(1,5,9-trioxacyclododecanylmethyl) 2-dodecyl-2-methylmalonate (1) had the highest selectivity for the sodium ion among the alkali and alkaline earths studied. The sodium ion selectivity of the ISE based on bis(12-crown-3) derivative 1 was superior to that of the ISE based on the bis(12-crown-4) analogue.