Grid‐Type Metal Ion Architectures: Functional Metallosupramolecular Arrays

TLDR

Recent advances in supramolecular coordination chemistry enable the creation of grid‑type transition‑metal complexes that form two‑dimensional arrays of metal ions linking organic ligands in a perpendicular, multi‑wiring network. The study highlights the potential of these arrays for nanotechnology, especially as supramolecular devices for information storage and processing. The authors design these arrays by thermodynamically driven, one‑pot synthesis of discrete grid‑type complexes from many molecular components. The arrays exhibit unique optical, electrochemical, and magnetic properties, and their dense, addressable units form an extended grid‑of‑grids arrangement when interacting with solid surfaces.

Abstract

Recent advances in supramolecular coordination chemistry allow access to transition-metal complexes of grid-type architecture comprising two-dimensional arrays of metal ions connecting a set of organic ligands in a perpendicular arrangement to generate a multiple wiring network. General design principles for these structures involve the thermodynamically driven synthesis of complex discrete objects from numerous molecular components in a single overall operation. Such supramolecular metal ion arrays combine the properties of their constituent metal ions and ligands, showing unique optical, electrochemical, and magnetic behavior. These features present potential relevance for nanotechnology, particularly in the area of supramolecular devices for information storage and processing. Thus, a dense organization of addressable units is represented by an extended "grid-of-grids" arrangement, formed by interaction of grid-type arrays with solid surfaces.