Calixarenes and resorcinarenes at interfaces

Abstract

This chapter summarizes the most recent developments in the fabrication and potential applications of calixarenes- and resorcinarenes-based thin films on liquid and solid surfaces. The large range of possible chemical modifications of the parent macrocycles allows fine-tuning the self-assembly properties of these macrocycles at interfaces. The focus in this chapter is done on the different synthetic routes to calixarene- or resorcinarene-based macrocycles able of self-assembly as Langmuir monolayers, Langmuir-Blodgett films, self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on planar surfaces and on nanoparticles. Selected illustrative examples of self-assembly studies are chosen in the literature and discussed.