The inclusion of protonated 2-aminoanthracene in the cavity of cucurbit[7]uril increases its pKa values in the ground and excited states, resulting in the disappearance of the green emission of the neutral excited state and the significant enhancement of the blue emissions from the protonated excited state guest.

The 2:1 guest-host complex of 2-aminopyridine hydrochloride with cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) undergoes a stereoselective [4+4] photodimerization reaction in aqueous solution to yield exclusively the anti-trans isomer of 4,8-diamino-3,7-diazatricyclo[4.2.2.2(2,5)]dodeca-3,7,9,11-tetraene, and in the absence of CB[7], the photochemical reaction produces the anti-trans and syn-trans photodimers in a 4:1 ratio. In addition, encapsulation of the photodimer product in the CB[7] cavity stabilizes it with respect to the otherwise observed rearomatization to the 2-aminopyridine monomer at room temperature.

The blue fluorescence of acridizinium bromide (ADZ+) and the green fluorescence of 9-aminoacridizinium bromide (AADZ+) in aqueous solutions can be almost entirely switched off upon the double inclusion of these guests in the cavity of cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8]) owing to the formation of a nonfluorescent, noncovalent dimer complex, and then fluorescence can be effectively restored by adding cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) to the complex because it competitively extracts the fluorophores out of the CB[8] cavity.

Inclusion of the alpha,alpha'-bis(3-(1-methylimidazolium))-p-xylene dication in cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7], K(CB[7]) = (4.3 x 10(9) M(-1)), with C-H...O=C hydrogen bonding between the guest C(2)-protons and the carbonyl oxygens of the host portals, inhibits the H/D exchange for the C(2)-proton with k(OD) (25 degrees C, D2O) decreasing from 1.2 x 10(3) M(-1) s(-1) (pKa = 22.3) in the absence of CB[7] to 0.9 M(-1) s(-1) (pKa = 25.4) in the presence of 1.1 equiv. CB[7].

Binding behaviors of two cucurbit[n]urils (CB[n]) hosts with the [CH3bpy(CH2)6bpyCH3]4+ (bpy = 4,4'-bipyridinium) guest were investigated by 1H NMR and MALDI-TOF-MS experiments. While the CB[6] and CB[7] form [2]pseudorotaxanes with the host located over the hexamethylene chain of the guest, only the CB[7] forms a [3]pseudorotaxane with both host molecules residing over the bipyridinium groups. The initial CB[7] host vacates the inclusion of the hexamethylene chain as a result of the electrostatic and steric repulsions that would arise in simultaneous binding of adjacent aliphatic and aromatic portions of the guest.