Self-assembly relies on building blocks that are suitably programmed with respect to the position and directionality of their binding sites which direct the assembly of many building blocks into one larger structure. Its formation is reversible so that error correction can occur, if binding sites have not been connected the most favorable way.

Among the metallo-supramolecular structures prepared and characterized in the group are simple polygons incorporating a number of identical ligands and metal centers, but also larger cages. In cooperation with the groups of Markus Albrecht and Jonathan Nitschke, mass spectrometry served as a tool to characterize even quite complex helicates and [7]catenanes and to follow their formation and dissociation pathways.

Chiral metallo-supramolecular polygons have been made some of which bear dynamically chiral bipyridyl ligands and show heterochiral self-sorting. Other chiral rhomboids have been deposited on surfaces to provide a means to structure the surface with chiral host molecules.

Some metallo-supramolecular oligomer chains even exhibit hierarchical self-assembly in that they grow into nanospheres and metallo-supramolecular vesicles.

A metallo-supramolecular cage undergoing a cage contraction in the gas phase

 

Related Publications

Metallo-Supramolecular Self-Assembly

• 180

  Exploring the palladium and platinum bis(pyridyl) complex motif – do substituents affect NMR spectroscopic, X-ray crystallographic, (tandem) mass spectrometric, and isothermal titration calorimetry data following chemical intuition?
  T. Weilandt, N.L. Löw, G. Schnakenburg, J. Daniels, M. Nieger, C.A. Schalley, A. Lützen
  Chem. Eur. J.2012, 18, 16665-16676

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• 174

  Equipping metallo-supramolecular macrocycles with functional groups: Assemblies of pyridine-substituted urea ligands
  R.W. Troff, R. Hovorka, T. Weilandt, A. Lützen, M. Cetina, M. Nieger, D. Lentz, K. Rissanen, C.A. Schalley
  Dalton Trans. 2012, 41, 8410-8420

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• 156

  Effects of subtle differences in ligand constitution and conformation in metallo-supramolecular self-assembled polygons
  B. Brusilowskij, E.V. Dzyuba, R.W. Troff, C.A. Schalley
  Dalton Trans. 2011, 40, 12089-12096

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• 149

  Thermodynamically controlled self-sorting of hetero-bimetallic metallo-supramolecular macrocycles: What a difference a methylene group makes!
  B. Brusilowskij, E. V. Dzyuba, R. W. Troff, C.A. Schalley
  Chem. Commun. 2011, 47, 1830-1832

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• 122

  Self-assembly of heterodinuclear triple-stranded helicates: Control by coordination number and charge
  M. Albrecht, Y. Liu, S.S. Zhu, C.A. Schalley, R. Fröhlich
  Chem. Commun. 2009, 1195-1197

 

Chiral Metallo-Supramolecular Assemblies

• 114

  Self-assembling squares with amino acid-decorated bipyridines: heterochiral self-sorting of dynamically interconverting diastereomers
  A. Rang, M. Nieger, M. Engeser, A. Lützen, C.A. Schalley
  Chem. Commun. 2008, 4789-4791

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• 113

  Metallo-Supramolecular Self-Assembly: the Case of Triangle-Square Equilibria
  T. Weilandt, R.W. Troff, H. Saxell, K. Rissanen, C.A. Schalley
  Inorg. Chem. 2008, 47, 7588-7598

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• 110

  Synthesis of Axially Chiral 4,4'-Bipyridines and their Remarkably Selective Self-Assembly into Chiral Metallo-Supramolecular Squares
  A. Rang, M. Engeser, N.M. Maier, M. Nieger, W. Lindner, C.A. Schalley
  Chem. Eur. J. 2008, 14, 3855-3859

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• 86

  Synthesis of Chiral Self-Assembling Rhombs and Their Characterization in Solution, in the Gas Phase, and at the Liquid-Solid Interface
  K. S. Jeong, S. Y. Kim, U.-S. Shin, M. Kogej, N. T. M. Hai, P. Broekmann, N. Jeong, B. Kirchner, M. Reiher, C. A. Schalley
  J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 17672-17685

 

Hierarchical Self-Assembly

• 128

  Metallo-Supramolecular Nano-Spheres via Hierarchical Self-Assembly
  H.T. Baytekin, B. Baytekin, A. Schulz, A. Springer, T. Gross, W. Unger, M. Artamonova, S. Schlecht, D. Lentz, C.A. Schalley
  Chem. Mater. 2009, 21, 2980-2992

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• 118

  Hierarchical Self-Assembly of Metallo-Supramolecular Nano-Spheres
  H. T. Baytekin, B. Baytekin, A. Schulz, C.A. Schalley
  Small 2009, 5, 194-197

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• 94

  Dicatechol cis-dioxomolybdenum(VI): a building block for a lithium cation templated monomer-dimer equilibrium
  M. Albrecht, M. Baumert, J. Klankermayer, M. Kogej, C. A. Schalley, R. Fröhlich
  Dalton Trans. 2006, 4395-4400

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• 81

  Hierarchical Assembly of Helicate-Type Dinuclear Titanium(IV) Complexes
  M. Albrecht, S. Mirtschin, M. de Groot, I. Janser, J. Runsink, G. Raabe, M. Kogej, C. A. Schalley, R. Fröhlich
  J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 10371-10387

 

Gas-Phase Chemistry of Metallo-Supramolecular Assemblies

• 183

  Generation of a Dynamic System of Three-Dimensional Tetrahedral Polycatenanes
  S.P. Black, A.R. Stefankiewicz, M.M.J. Smulders, D. Sattler, C.A. Schalley, J.R. Nitschke, J.K.M. Sanders
  Angew. Chem., 2013, 125, 5861-5864; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2013, 52, 5749-5752

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• 121

  A double intramolecular cage contraction within a self-assembled metallo-supramolecular bowl
  B. Brusilowskij, S. Neubacher, C.A. Schalley
  Chem. Commun. 2009, 785-787

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• 92

  Helicate, Macrocycle, or Catenate: Dynamic Topological Control over Subcomponent Self-Assembly
  M. Hutin, C. A. Schalley, G. Bernardinelli, J. R. Nitschke
  Chem. Eur. J. 2006, 12, 4069-4076

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• 44

  Mass Spectrometric Characterization and Gas-Phase Chemistry of Self-Assembling Supramolecular Squares and Triangles
  C. A. Schalley, T. Müller, P. Linnartz, M. Witt, M. Schäfer, A. Lützen
  Chem. Eur. J. 2002, 8, 3538-3551