Rational Design of Supramolecular Assemblies Via Incommensurate Geometries and Coordination Numbers

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

This award from Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division supports research of Professor Kenneth N. Raymond, Department of Chemistry, University of California at Berkeley into superamolecular clusters assembled by mean of metal-ligand coordinate bonds. The project will focus on the synthesis of expanded host-volume clusters, the formation and rearrangement of supramolecular clusters, the control of guest molecule reactivity by supramolecular hosts. It is the goal of the research to precisely define what can be programmed into a ligand in terms of predetermined symmetry based linkages and to exploit this to develop new chemistry based on supramolecular self-assembly. Large, supramolecular structures of tetrahedra, cubes and dodecahedra will be synthesized with metal ions at the vertices and organic linkers along the edges. Symmetry-based principles developed in this work will be generally applicable to the preparation of other nanostructures. The ability to systematically prepare very large molecules with controlled shapes and pore cavities will be exploited to catalyze chemical reactions.