The potential industrial applications of calixarenes

Abstract

Calixarenes can be considered as macrocycles or perfectly defined cyclic oligomers. Their potentiel applications, determined from industrial chemistry publications and existing patents are presented. Non modified calixarenes and calixarenes modified by chemical reactions are successively taken into account. The latter may be considered as “molecular platforms” to which functional groups are fixed. The described applications concern, recovery of caesium and uranium, lanthanide sequestration, separation of neutral organic molecules, stabilizers for organic polymers, pollution control selective complexation of neutral cations, phase transfer agents, accelerators for instant adhesives, ion scavengers for electronic devices, Langmuir-Blodgett film and membranes, catalytic properties. © 1993 IUPAC