Supramolecular chemistry refers to the domain of
chemistry beyond that of molecules and focuses on the chemical systems made up of a discrete number of assembled molecular subunits or components. The forces responsible for the spatial organization may vary from weak (
intermolecular forces,
electrostatic or
hydrogen bonding) to strong (
covalent bonding), provided that the degree of electronic coupling between the molecular component remains small with respect to relevant energy parameters of the component. While traditional chemistry focuses on the
covalent bond, supramolecular chemistry examines the weaker and reversible noncovalent interactions between molecules. These forces include
hydrogen bonding,
metal coordination,
hydrophobic forces,
van der Waals forces,
pi-pi interactions and
electrostatic effects. Important concepts that have been demonstrated by supramolecular chemistry include
molecular self-assembly,
folding,
molecular recognition,
host-guest chemistry,
mechanically-interlocked molecular architectures, and
dynamic covalent chemistry. The study of
non-covalent interactions is crucial to understanding many biological processes from cell structure to vision that rely on these forces for structure and function.
Biological systems are often the inspiration for supramolecular research.