Water soluble cucurbit[6]uril derivative as a potential Xe carrier for Xe-129 NMR-based biosensors

The water soluble cucurbit[6]uril derivative CB*[6] forms a thermodynamically and kinetically stable host -guest complex with xenon in water, the binding affinity of which is about 3 x 10(3) M-1, comparable to those of cryptophanes, suggesting that it may serve as an effective molecular carrier'' for Xe-129 NMR-based biosensors.