Are the Physical Properties of Xe@Cryptophane Complexes Easily Predictable? The Case of <i>syn</i>- and <i>anti</i>-Tris-aza-Cryptophanes

We report the synthesis and optical resolution of C3-symmetrical tris-azacryptophanes anti-3 syn-4, as well study their interaction with xenon via hyperpolarized 129 Xe NMR. These molecular cages are close structural analogs two wellknown cryptophane-A (1; chiral) cryptophane-B (2; achiral) diastereomers since these new 2 compounds differ only by presence three nitrogen atoms grafted on same cyclotribenzylene unit. The assignment relative (syn vs anti) absolute configurations was made possible thanks to combined use quantum calculation at DFT level vibrational circular dichroism (VCD). More importantly, our results show that despite large similarities (1) and-B (2), very different behavior in organic solution. demonstrate a prediction physical properties xenon@cryptophane complexes, based parameters, remains extremely difficult.