Addition reactions of singlet oxygen to olefins have been the subject of inquiry since the discovery of singlet oxygen by Kautsky over a century ago. [1][2][3] This report concerns ene reactions yielding allylic hydroperoxides, a process involving addition of singlet oxygen to CdC bonds and simultaneous abstraction of an allylic hydrogen. [4][5][6] When there is more than one set of allylic hydrogens in a given olefin, multiple allylic hydroperoxides are produced. Due to the difficulties in controlling small and highly reactive singlet oxygen, it has not been possible to control the regioselectivity or reactions upon unhindered olefins such as methyl cycloalkenes. 7 A few years ago, we disclosed that preferential abstraction of hydrogen from the methyl group of methyl cycloalkenes could be achieved by preorganizing the olefin through cation-π interactions within zeolites, and this has been confirmed by several other groups. [8][9][10][11][12][13] In this report, we show that the abstraction of methyl hydrogen by singlet oxygen can be eliminated by encapsulating the methyl cycloalkenes within a water-soluble, deep-cavity cavitand, octa acid (OA, Figure 1). 14 This study was prompted by our realization that the methyl group of these guests can be used to anchor and hence orient the olefin within the cavity of OA, and hence supramolecular steric hindrance 15 could be used to prevent singlet oxygen from approaching the methyl group. 16 We have achieved this goal, and the results are presented in this report.Since the host-guest complexation behavior and the product selectivity for ene reaction in 1-methyl cyclopentene (1a), 1-methyl cyclohexene (1b), and 1-methyl cycloheptene (1c) (Scheme 1) are identical, we discuss the results using 1b as the model. Addition of 1 equiv of OA to a turbid aqueous borate buffer (pH ∼8.9) solution containing 1 mM of the olefin resulted in a clear solution, suggesting it had been solubilized by complexation within OA. A 1 H NMR titration study of this complex confirmed a 1:1 ratio of the host and guest (Figure 1), while pulse field gradient spin echo diffusion experiments revealed the complex to be a quaternary, 2:2 capsular complex (Supporting Information). Complexation within the capsule resulted in significant upfield shifting of the guest signals (relative to CDCl 3 ). The most significantly shifted guest signal was from the methyl groups (δ∆ ) -4.3 ppm), indicating that they are each anchored at the narrowest part of each cavity. Upfield shifting and 2D 1 H NMR experiments (Supporting Information) suggested that, of the three sets of allylic hydrogens in the guest, H 3 ( Figure 1) would be most accessible and H 7 (methyl) would be the least accessible to any reagent entering the capsule at the equator. This model suggested that, whereas in chloroform 1b yields three hydroperoxides (Scheme 1), a single hydroperoxide 4b should predominate with 1b included within the OA capsule.We believe that space-filling is primarily behind guest orientation, although weak C-H‚‚‚π interactions 17 ...