Patent ID: 8754213

Claim:
A process for preparing a supramolecular compound comprising a single 4H-unit per molecule or a single 4H*-unit per molecule, wherein, a compound A having a melting point of below 45° C., a molecular weight of about 160 to about 800 amu and a HLB-value of lower than 8, said compound A is a branched, unbranched or cyclic C 1 -C 100 alkyl alcohol, compound A optionally being substituted with alkenyl, ether, ester or amide groups, is reacted with: a 4H-unit; or a linker L having the formula X-G-X, wherein X is independently selected from the group consisting of —NCO, —NCS, —OH, —SH, —NHC(Z)Q, —NHR 5 , oxiranyl, —C(Z)ZR 6 and —C(Z)NHR 6 , wherein Q is a leaving group, Z is independently O or S, and R 5 and R 6 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, linear, cyclic or branched C 1 -C 6 alkyl groups, C 6 -C 20 aryl groups, C 7 -C 20 alkaryl groups and C 7 -C 20 arylalkyl groups; and wherein G is a cyclic, linear or branched C 1 -C 20 alkylene or a C 6 -C 20 arylene group, followed by the reaction with a 4H*-unit; wherein: said 4H* has the formula (7) or formula (8): said 4H-unit having the formula (9) or the formula (10): wherein: G and X are defined as above; R 1 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, phenyl, cyclic, and linear or branched C 1 -C 20 alkyl groups, wherein the alkyl groups optionally comprise 1-5 heteroatoms selected from the group consisting of oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur; R 2 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, and cyclic, linear or branched C 1 -C 20 alkyl groups, wherein the alkyl groups optionally comprise 1-5 heteroatoms selected from the group consisting of oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur; R 3 and R 4 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, cyclic, linear or branched C 1 -C 20 alkyl groups and C 6 -C 20 arylalkyl or alkylaryl groups, wherein the alkyl groups optionally comprise 1-5 heteroatoms selected from the group consisting of oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur; B is a linking moiety selected from the group consisting of cyclic, linear or branched C 1 -C 20 alkylene and C 6 -C 20 arylene groups, wherein the alkylene and arylene groups optionally comprise 1-5 heteroatoms selected from the group consisting of oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur, wherein the arylene groups are optionally substituted with one or more cyclic, linear or branched C 1 -C 20 alkyl and/or alkylene groups; and Y is N or C—R 4 .