Syntheses of a number of cryptands having heteroditopic as well as heterotritopic receptor sites have been achieved using alkali metal ions as templates. Some of the cryptands can be synthesized on a multi-gram scale without using any templating metal ions at low temperature (278 K). Each of these cryptands readily forms inclusion complexes with transition metal ions. These cryptands exhibit interesting properties and can further accomodate small anions inside the cavity. Further, upon suitable derivatization, some of the cryptands can behave as amphiphiles and form Langmuir-Blodgett films very readily. When derivatized with 9-methylanthracene, some of the cryptands show interesting fluorescence properties and can be of use as molecular photonic devices.

An efficient synthesis of the potential pharmacophore 1,4-dihydro-quinoxaline-2,3-dione (1) has been achieved in a one-pot reaction at room temperature from substitutedo-phenylene diamine and oxalic acid under solvent-free conditions by a simple grinding method with unsurpassed atom economy. Thermal and powder X-ray diffraction analysis was carried out for some hydrated crystals.

Construction of modified inorganic mineral with controlled mineralization analogues of those produced by nature is now of current interest for understanding the mechanism of thein vivo biomineralization processes, as well as looking for fresh industrial and technological applications. Low-molecular-weight chiral poly-carboxylate ligands derived from naturally occurring L-α-amino acids have been used as model systems to study the effect of molecular properties on crystal growth modification.

There is a great deal of interest in developing small molecule inhibitors of protein misfolding and aggregation due to a growing number of pathologic states known as amyloid disorders. In searching for alternative ways to reduce protein-protein interactions or to inhibit the amyloid formation, the inhibitory effects of cationic amphiphile viz. 𝑁-methyl-8-(alkoxy)quinolinium iodide on aggregation behaviour of hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL) at alkaline pH has been studied. Even though the compounds did not protect native HEWL from conformational changes, they were effective in diminishing HEWL amyloid formation, delaying both nucleation and elongation phases. It is likely that strong binding in the HEWL compound complex, raises the activation energy barrier for protein misfolding and subsequent aggregation, thereby retarding the aggregation kinetics substantially.

Aluminium complex of a naphthalene-based benzene tripod ligand system has been reported for the selective recognition of fluoride in aqueous medium in physiological condition. The ligand can selectively recognize Al³⁺ through enhancement in the fluorescence intensity and this in situ formed aluminium complex recognizes fluoride through quenching of fluorescence. The receptor system detects fluoride in nanomolar range. The sensing property was extended for practical utility to sense fluoride in tap water, pond water and river water.

Tris(2-aminoethyl)amine (tren)-based bulky adamantane group-substituted tris-urea (L) has been developed as the potential tripodal receptor exhibiting strong binding affinities towards small spherical fluoride anion as well as large tetrahedral sulphate anion in its neutral and protonated form, respectively. Structural elucidation reveals that the divalent sulphate ion is fully engulfed inside the complementary space created by two face-to-face oriented symmetry-independent protonated receptors, whereas the smaller fluoride ion is encapsulated as fluoride-water cluster (F^--H₂O) assemblage within the neutral unimolecular capsular assembly of receptor L.

Judiciously designed cyanine based fluorogenic probe (L) can exhibit interesting solvent polarity induced isomerization. The probe displayed a highly selective TURN-ON fluorescence response towards hypochlorite among various reactive oxygen species (ROS) and analytes in a mixed aqueous medium. Thesensing process was attributed to the formation of a probe-OCl adduct which results in restricting the donor acceptor extended conjugation. The detection limit was found to be as low as 3 μM. The proposed sensing mechanism is supported by mass spectrometric analysis and HPLC study