Bromination of N-phenyloxypropyl-N′-ethyl-4,4′-bipyridium in cucurbit[8]uril molecular reactor

N-Phenyloxypropyl-N′-ethyl-4,4′-bipyridium (1) was designed to form a host-guest inclusion complex with CB[n] (n = 6-8), then the bromination reaction of 1 and its corresponding inclusion complexes was investigated in this paper. In the case of 1/CB[8], the folded including mode is quite helpful to acquire 1-bormination product completely via intramolecular charge transfer (ICT), and CB[8] can provide a safe bromination environment for 1.