Understanding the multiscale self-assembly of metal–organic polyhedra towards functionally graded porous gels

Abstract

Time-resolved dynamic light scattering unveiled the multiscale self-assembly mechanism of metal–organic polyhedra and allowed for inducing asymmetry in a porous gel.

Multiscale structural control of linked metal–organic polyhedra gel by aging-induced linkage-reorganization

“…Heating the solution of the kinetically trapped molecules at 80 °C drove the assembly of MOPs into porous gels by the dissociation of excessive imidazole ligands and the subsequent crosslinking of MOPs with remaining bix . 55 In a typical reaction here, 1.4 mM kinetically trapped molecules were used to lead to the formation of gels within a few minutes (Fig. S4 † ).…”

Porous Colloidal Hydrogels Formed by Coordination‐Driven Self‐Assembly of Charged Metal‐Organic Polyhedra

“…[13] Recently, we reported the fabrication of supramolecular gels based on rhodium-based cuboctahedral MOPs, [Rh 2 (C 12 -bdc) 2 ] 12 (C 12 RhMOP; C 12 -bdc = 5-dodecoxybenzene-1,3-dicarboxylate) or [Rh 2 (bdc) 2 ] 12 (HRhMOP; bdc = benzene-1,3-dicarboxylate) with shorter linker, 1,4-bis(imidazol-1-ylmethyl)benzene (bix), by controlling the self-assembly pathway. [14] Compared to macrocyclic molecules, the size, shape and chemical functionality of MOPs can be easily tuned by ligand design with easily accessible molecules, leading to supramolecular gels with varied host-guest chemistry. [15] However, only a few hydrogels assembled from MOPs are reported to date, [16] most likely because most reported MOPs are based on copper paddlewheel motifs and thus unstable in aqueous solution.…”

Directional asymmetry over multiple length scales in reticular porous materials

“…7h ). 66 In this case, pre-synthesized MOP molecules C 12 RhMOP, [Rh 2 (C 12 -bdc) 2 ] 12 (bdc-C 12 = 5-dodecoxybenzene-1,3-dicarboxylate) are assembled with a ditopic linker, 1,4-bis(imidazole-1-ylmethyl)benzene (bix), by coordination-driven supramolecular polymerization. 80 This process involves several stages, in which after initial formation of nuclei from the linking of a few MOPs, they are further fused into colloidal particles.…”