An unanticipated anion-water cluster is assembled by one bromide and three highly-ordered "water tetramers" within the cavity of a receptor, providing a perfect C(3) symmetric propeller-shaped bromide-water cluster of [Br(H(2)O)(12)](-).

We present an unprecedented fluoride-water cyclic cluster of [F(H2O)]44− assembled in a cuboid-shaped molecular box formed by two large macrocycles. Structural characterization reveals that the [F(H2O)]44− is assembled by strong H-bonding interactions [OH···F = 2.684(3) to 2.724(3) Å], where a fluoride anion plays the topological role of a water molecule in the classical cyclic water octamer. The interaction of fluoride was further confirmed by 19F NMR and 1H NMR spectroscopies, indicating the encapsulation of the anionic species within the cavity in solution. High level DFT calculations and Bader topological analyses fully support the crystallographic results, demonstrating that the bonding arrangement in the fluoride-water cluster arises from the unique geometry of the host.

A thiophene-based tripodal copper(II) complex has been synthesized as a new colorimetric and optical chemosensor for naked-eye discrimination of halides in acetonitrile and an acetonitrile-water mixture. The binding interactions of the new receptor with several anions were analyzed by UV-Vis titrations, electrospray ionization mass spectrometric (ESI-MS) experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The results from UV-Vis titrations indicate that the coordinative unsaturated copper(II) complex strongly binds a halide at its vacant copper(II) centre via a metal-ligand bond forming a 1:1 complex, exhibiting binding affinities in the order of fluoride > chloride > bromide > iodide. The interactions of the receptor with halides were further confirmed by ESI-MS, showing a distinct signal corresponding to a 1:1 complex for each halide, suggesting that the noncovalent interactions also exist in the gas phase. In addition, time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) calculations were also carried out to understand the excited-state properties of the chemosensor complexes. A detailed analysis of the TD-DFT calculations shows a consistent red-shift in the first optically-allowed transition, consistent with the observed colorimetric experiments.

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