Molecular self-assembly based on coordination chemistry has made an explosive development in recent years. Over the last >30 years, we have been showing that the simple combination of transition-metal’s square planer geometry with pyridine-based bridging ligands gives rise to the quantitative self-assembly of nano-sized, discrete organic frameworks. Representative examples include square molecules (1990), linked-ring molecules (1994), cages (1995), capsules (1999), and tubes (2004) that are self-assembled from simple and small components. Originated from these earlier works, current interests in our group focus on i) molecular confinement effects in coordination cages, ii) solution chemistry in crystalline porous complexes (as applied to “crystalline sponge method”), and iii) and giant self-assemblies as disclosed in this lecture.
嘉宾介绍
Makoto Fujita
沃尔夫化学奖获得者The major achievement of Prof. Makoto Fujita is the introduction of a new construction principle, featured as "metal-directed self-assembly", leading to the spontaneous formation of cyclic structures, catenanes, three-dimensional cages, and so on that are assembled from a large number of transition metal centers and simple coordinating organic molecules. A Pd(II)-cornered square complex served as the first example of coordination assembly that generated not only a framework but also a “space”, an excellent platform for creating new properties and functions. The cages can be gigantic and behave as large molecular containers, leading to totally new chemical properties and reactivity of the substrates entrapped in these cages. Recently, the same principle applied to crystallography led to a revolutionary method for determining X-ray structures of compounds which were not obtained as crystals but rather encapsulated in the crystalline self-assembled cages.