Potential 129Xe-NMR biosensors based on secondary and tertiary complexes of a water-soluble pillar[5]arene derivative

We report on the first secondary and tertiary complexes of the pillar[5]arene derivative 3 with xenon in water. We show that the chemical shift of the encapsulated xenon provides information on the type of the formed complex suggesting that 3 has the potential to be used as a platform for NMR biosensors.