A controllable and dynamic assembly system based on discrete metallocages†
Abstract
A novel self-assembly system has been developed, in which Ag6L4 cages can not only effectively assemble into a polycatenane containing multiple mechanical bonds in their supersaturated (MeOH–CHCl3) solution in a kinetically-controlled way, but can also be directly linked into a highly ordered polycage in the unsaturated solution through a thermodynamically-controlled assembly process. Moreover, the newly-constructed multiple mechanical bonds can also be opened and transformed into metal–metal interactions through reconstruction of the kinetically-controlled product into the thermodynamically-controlled product in the (MeOH–CHCl3) system, while the more strongly polarised DMSO solution can only open these multiple mechanical bonds.