Covalent reinforcement of hydrogen-bonded discs into stably folded helical structures

The presence of covalent tethers significantly enhanced the stability of structures consisting of helically arranged benzenetricarboxamide units that otherwise undergo very weak hydrogen-bonding interaction. The resultant molecular structures were probed by computational study, which predicted folded conformations consisting of helically arranged discs. Experimental studies confirmed the H-bonding interaction between the disk units, the monomeric nature of the corresponding molecules in solution, and the helical conformations of such molecules.