Eleven molecular tweezer artificial receptors based on deoxycholic acid have been synthesized by using solid K₂CO₃ as supporter through the reaction of methyl deoxycholate with aroyl chloride in solvent-free conditions under microwave irradiation, five of which are new compounds. The structures of all the molecular tweezers were characterized by ¹H NMR, IR, MS spectra and elemental analysis. Compared with the conventional method, this method is simple, safe, rapid, efficient and eco-friendly. The recognition properties of these molecular tweezers for neutral molecules and chiral molecules were investigated. The results indicate that these molecular tweezers not only recognize neutral organic molecules but also have good enantioselectivity to D/L- amino acid methyl esters.

Key words: molecular recognition, molecular tweezer, microwave irradiation, deoxycholic acid