Glutamate-functionalized oligocholate foldamers bound Zn(OAc)2, guanidine, and even amine compounds with surprisingly high affinities. The conformational change of the hosts during binding was crucial to the enhanced binding affinity. The strongest cooperativity between the conformation and guest-binding occurred when the hosts were unfolded but near the folding–unfolding transition. These results suggest that high binding affinity in molecular recognition may be more easily obtained from large hosts capable of strong cooperative conformational changes instead of those with rigid, preorganized structures.