Issue 21, 2021

Increasing structural and functional complexity in self-assembled coordination cages

Abstract

Progress in metallo-supramolecular chemistry creates potential to synthesize functional nano systems and intelligent materials of increasing complexity. In the past four decades, metal-mediated self-assembly has produced a wide range of structural motifs such as helicates, grids, links, knots, spheres and cages, with particularly the latter ones catching growing attention, owing to their nano-scale cavities. Assemblies serving as hosts allow application as selective receptors, confined reaction environments and more. Recently, the field has made big steps forward by implementing dedicated functionality, e.g. catalytic centres or photoswitches to allow stimuli control. Besides incorporation in homoleptic systems, composed of one type of ligand, desire arose to include more than one function within the same assembly. Inspiration comes from natural enzymes that congregate, for example, a substrate recognition site, an allosteric regulator element and a reaction centre. Combining several functionalities without creating statistical mixtures, however, requires a toolbox of sophisticated assembly strategies. This review showcases the implementation of function into self-assembled cages and devises strategies to selectively form heteroleptic structures. We discuss first examples resulting from a combination of both principles, namely multicomponent multifunctional host–guest complexes, and their potential in application in areas such as sensing, catalysis, and photo-redox systems.

Graphical abstract: Increasing structural and functional complexity in self-assembled coordination cages

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
01 mrt 2021
Accepted
26 apr 2021
First published
10 mei 2021
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2021,12, 7269-7293

Increasing structural and functional complexity in self-assembled coordination cages

S. Pullen, J. Tessarolo and G. H. Clever, Chem. Sci., 2021, 12, 7269 DOI: 10.1039/D1SC01226F

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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