A variety of optically active macrocyclic crown ethers that serve as "host" systems that are capable of differentiating between enantiomeric "guest" molecules during host-guest complexation have been prepared via incorporation of chiral elements into the crown ring skeleton. The ability of these crown ethers to recognize the enantiomers of guest salts, i.e., (+) a-methyl benzylamine and to transport them enantioselectively in W-tube transport experiments were studied. The ability of these crown ethers to perform as chiral catalysts in an enantioselective Michael addition was studied. The extent of asymmetric induction, expressed in terms of the enantiomeric excess (%ee), was monitored by measuring the optical rotation of the product and comparing to the literature value.

Three cage-functionalized polyoxacrown ethers (9, 10 and 12) and four novel cage-functionalized polyoxamonoazacrown ethers (18, 20, 25 and 29) that contain 3,5-disubstituted-4-oxahexacyclo[5.4.0.02,6.03,10.05,9.08,11]dodecane ("oxahexacyclic") moiety have been synthesized and their respective alkali metal picrate extraction profiles along with that of three analogues 13, 14 and 21 have been obtained. The observed avidities and selectivities of the host molecules toward complexation and transport of alkali metal picrates can be related to the size and shape of their respective macrocyclic cavity and the number of donor atoms. The effect of N-alkyl substitution on the complexation properties of azacrown ethers has been studied. The avidity of N-Et azacrown ethers toward complexation with alkali metal cations is generally higher than that of the corresponding non-N-alkylated hosts. However, the presence of an N-Et group appears to have a negligible effect upon their relative selectivities in their regards. The effect of pH on extraction process was studied; it was thereby determined that the alkali metal picrate extraction experiments are best performed at high pH (ca. 11-12).