Nature Communications
Nature Communications
5 years ago

Self-assembly of a supramolecular hexagram and a supramolecular pentagram

Self-assembly of a supramolecular hexagram and a supramolecular pentagram
Charles N. Moorefield, Yuan Guo, Zhilong Jiang, Die Liu, Xiaohong Li, Bo Song, Mingzhao Chen, Xiaoyu Yang, Xiaopeng Li, Yiming Li, Jie Yuan, Pingshan Wang, Bingqian Xu, Mingyu Sun, Tong Zhang, George R. Newkome, Ming Wang, Kun Wang
Five- and six-pointed star structures occur frequently in nature as flowers, snow-flakes, leaves and so on. These star-shaped patterns are also frequently used in both functional and artistic man-made architectures. Here following a stepwise synthesis and self-assembly approach, pentagonal and hexagonal metallosupramolecules possessing star-shaped motifs were prepared based on the careful design of metallo-organic ligands (MOLs). In the MOL design and preparation, robust ruthenium–terpyridyl complexes were employed to construct brominated metallo-organic intermediates, followed by a Suzuki coupling reaction to achieve the required ensemble. Ligand LA (VRu2+X, V=bisterpyridine, X=tetraterpyridine, Ru=Ruthenium) was initially used for the self-assembly of an anticipated hexagram upon reaction with Cd2+ or Fe2+; however, unexpected pentagonal structures were formed, that is, [Cd5LA5]30+ and [Fe5LA5]30+. In our redesign, LB [V(Ru2+X)2] was synthesized and treated with 60° V-shaped bisterpyridine (V) and Cd2+ to create hexagonal hexagram [Cd12V3LB3]36+ along with traces of the triangle [Cd3V3]6+. Finally, a pure supramolecular hexagram [Fe12V3LB3]36+ was successfully isolated in a high yield using Fe2+ with a higher assembly temperature.

Publisher URL: http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15476

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15476

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