Search results for "Archimedean solid"

Self-Assembly of Water-Mediated Supramolecular Cationic Archimedean Solids

2013

Understanding the self-assembly of small structural units into large supramolecular assemblies remains one of the great challenges in structural chemistry. We have discovered that tetrahedral supramolecular cages, exhibiting the shapes of Archimedean solids, can be self-assembled by hydrogen bonding interactions using tricationic N-donors (1 or 2) in cooperation with water (W). Single crystal X-ray analysis shows that cage (2)4(W)6, assembled in an aqueous solution of cation 2 and KPF6, consists of four tripodal trications linked by six water monomers and resembles the shape of a truncated tetrahedron. Similarly, cage (1)4(W6)4 spontaneously self-assembles in an aqueous solution of cation 1…