Issue 3, 2014

Self-assembly of giant supramolecular cubes with terpyridine ligands as vertices and metals on edges

Abstract

Self-assembly of three-dimensional (3-D) architecture using terpyridine (tpy)-based building blocks is challenging and seldom addressed due the fixed geometry (around 180°) of tpy-M(II)-tpy (M = Ru, Fe, Zn, and Cd) connectivity. Here we describe the self-assembly of 3-D giant metallo-supramolecular cubes using three-armed terpyridine ligands constructed on adamantane with molecular weight up to 18 k and edge length at ∼4.9 nm, which is significantly larger than the sizes of previous metallo-supramolecular cubes. Instead of using metal center as vertices in the commonly used synthetic strategy of 3-D molecular coordination ensembles, these cages [M12L8] bear 8 ligands as vertices with 12 metal ions on the edges. With a suitable edge length, the giant cubes appear to be the sole product after self-assembly from a variety of possible architectures. The 3-D metallo-supramolecules were characterized and supported by NMR, DOSY, ESI-MS, travelling wave ion mobility-MS and AFM.

Graphical abstract: Self-assembly of giant supramolecular cubes with terpyridine ligands as vertices and metals on edges

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
26 Oct 2013
Accepted
21 Nov 2013
First published
22 Nov 2013

Chem. Sci., 2014,5, 1221-1226

Author version available

Self-assembly of giant supramolecular cubes with terpyridine ligands as vertices and metals on edges

C. Wang, X. Hao, M. Wang, C. Guo, B. Xu, E. N. Tan, Y. Zhang, Y. Yu, Z. Li, H. Yang, M. Song and X. Li, Chem. Sci., 2014, 5, 1221 DOI: 10.1039/C3SC52965G

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