CAREER: Biomimetic Metal-Organic Super-Containers

南达科他州大学的王振强博士的目标是开发有效的方法，从小分子构建块组装复杂的功能结构。受球形病毒结构的启发，这种病毒具有用于存储遗传物质的内腔和用于识别目标宿主的外腔，王博士设计了一种新的合成容器分子，通过连接杯状结构来创造一个新的封闭的中空空间，同时保留杯状积木的自由空隙。他开发了一种合成这些容器分子家族的一般方法，并研究了它们的性质。对这类新型容器性能的基本了解可以导致新材料的开发，这些材料在许多不同的领域都有应用，如气体分离和水修复。这项研究与教育和推广倡议相结合，这些倡议专门旨在促进包括美洲原住民在内的代表不足的学生的科学素养。在化学系高分子、超分子和纳米化学项目的这一职业奖项的支持下，王博士开发了一种通用的合成方法，从基于磺酰杯芳烃的积木块、金属离子和有机羧酸盐连接物合成结构和功能多样化的金属-有机超容器(MOSCs)。这种新的合成方法利用大部分未被探索的杯芳烃下缘来构建分层的超分子组件，这些组件包含可能适合于不同客体的选择性和变构结合的内腔和外腔。本研究的另一个目的是研究功能化的MOSCs在溶液相和固态中的结构-性质关系和客体结合行为。

Dr. Zhenqiang Wang of the University of South Dakota aims to develop effective approaches to assemble complex functional architectures from small molecular building blocks. Inspired by the structure of spherical viruses, which feature an endo (internal) cavity for storage of genetic materials and exo (external) cavities for recognition of targeted hosts, Dr. Wang designs a new class of synthetic container molecules by linking cup-shaped structures to create a new enclosed hollow space while retaining the free voids of the cup-shaped building blocks. He develops a general approach to synthesize a family of these container molecules and investigates their properties. A fundamental understanding of the properties of this new class of containers could lead to the development of novel materials with applications in many different fields, such as gas separation and water remediation. This research is integrated with educational and outreach initiatives that specially aim to promote scientific literacy among underrepresented students including Native Americans. Under the support of this CAREER award from the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program of the Division of Chemistry, Dr. Wang develops a general synthetic approach to structurally and functionally diverse metal-organic super-containers (MOSCs), a new class of synthetic receptors, from sulfonylcalixarene-based building blocks, metal ions, and organic carboxylate linkers. This novel synthetic approach utilizes the largely unexplored lower rim of calixarenes to construct hierarchical supramolecular assemblies that contain both endo and exo cavities potentially suitable for selective and allosteric binding of different guests. Another objective of this research is to investigate the structure-property relationship and the guest-binding behavior of functionalized MOSCs in both solution phase and the solid state.