Recent advances in anion-π interactions

Over the past 10 years, anion-pi interaction has been recognized as an important weak force that may occur between anionic systems and electron-deficient aromatics. Lately, this supramolecular contact has experienced a rapidly growing interest, as reflected by numerous recent literature reports. The present paper highlights the tremendous progress achieved in the field by emphasizing three important studies involving anion-pi interactions published in 2010. In addition, a pioneering search of the Protein Data Bank (PDB) reveals short anion-pi contacts in some protein structures.