The deprotonation of a corannulene-based bisazolium salt allowed the preparation of a corannulene-based NHC di-AuI complex. The prepared di-AuI-complex was tested in the recognition of fullerene-C60, demonstrating good binding affinity in toluene solution, and producing a host–guest complex with 3:1 stoichiometry, as evidenced by a combination of NMR spectroscopy and ITC titrations. The experimental results are fully supported by DFT calculations. The binding of C60 with the di-AuI complex in toluene solution is enthalpically and entropically favoured.

A combination of self-complementary ?–?-stacking interactions and metallophilic interactions triggered the self-assembly of a new digold(I) metallo-tweezer in the presence of several types of M+ ions. Titrations by fluorescence spectroscopy enabled the determination of the association constants of the resulting inclusion duplex complexes.

On June 16th, Carmen Mejuto defended her Doctoral Thesis entitled Poly-N-Heterocyclic Carbene Ligands with Rigid polyaromatic linkers. Self-Assembly and Host-Guest Chemistry. Carmen Mejuto obained the maximum qualification 'Sobresaliente Cum Laude'. The Thesis was defended under the basis of the international doctorade program, and was supervised by Prof. Eduardo Peris and Dr. Gregorio Guisado. Ana Petronhilo (ITQB-Lisbon), Celedonio Alvarez (Univ. Valladolid), Javier Cabeza (Univ.