Giant Spherical Supramolecules with Internal and External functions

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The aim of this project is to unify the so far separate existing area of rather small supramolecular aggregates with functions in the cavity of the host with the area of large multishell metal clusters with usually no functionalities inside and outside of the aggregates. The proposed approach bases on the use of organometallic complexes with pre-designed four- or five-fold symmetric polypnictogen ligands as building blocks for the aggregation of nano-sized supramolecules via multiple coordination of polypnictogen moieties to metal cations and/or Lewis acidic coordination compounds. The synthetic strategy is targeted at introducing special functionalities either by using functionalized flexible outer sphere ligands or van der Waals and coordinative interactions in the inner cavity of the supramolecules. Supramolecules with large well-defined cavities will be used as ‘reaction vessels’ in the activation of small, otherwise unstable guest molecules. The outer-sphere functionalities will lead to special properties mimicking the chemistry of nanoparticles and dendrimers, respectively. Moreover, the linkage of the supramolecules via linkers will lead to a novel class of porous 3D materials that combines the properties of giant (host-/guest-able) supramolecules with the high application potential of MOF materials. These huge supramolecules will be state-of-the-art structurally determined with single-crystal X-ray diffraction reaching atomic resolution.