Self-Assembly of a Supramolecular Hexagram and a Supramolecular Pentagram

Date

2017-05

Authors

Jiang, Zhilong
Li, Yiming
Wang, Ming
Song, Bo
Wang, Kun
Sun, Mingyu
Liu, Die
Li, Xiaohong
Yuan, Jie
Chen, Mingzhao

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Springer Nature

Abstract

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 bis terpyridine< (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.

Description

Keywords

Citation

Jiang, Z., Li, Y., Wang, M., Song, B., Wang, K., Sun, M., Liu, D., Li, X., Yuan, J., Chen, M., Guo, Y., Yang, X., Zhang, T., Moorefield, C. N., Newkome, G. R., Xu, B., Li, X., & Wang, P. (2017). Self-assembly of a supramolecular hexagram and a supramolecular pentagram. Nature Communications, 8(15476).

Rights

Rights Holder

© 2017 The Author(s).

Rights License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Rights URI