Artificial receptors involved in enolization and pKa shifts Original Research Article

Abiotic receptors used to enolize carbonyl compounds or to shift substrate pKa values are reviewed. These systems exhibit disparate frameworks and several approaches to binding and anion stabilization. Detailed emphasis is placed on a bicyclic cyclophane that induces pKa shifts in active methylene compounds through NH–π hydrogen bonding with the resultant enolates.