Coordination-driven supramolecular macromolecules via the directional bonding approach

Coordination-driven self-assembly is a process that generates supramolecular architectures from molecular precursors by exploiting the favorable properties of metal-ligand bonding. The discrete supramolecular coordination complexes (SCCs) thus obtained have enjoyed multiple decades of development, focused initially on the design and reactivity of rigid building blocks with specific directionalities and angularities, thereby populating a molecular library of complementary donor and acceptor subunits. More recently, efforts have broadened to encompass pre- and post-self-assembly modifications, which have lead to new routes for obtaining functionalized metallacages and metallacycles, multicomponent assemblies incorporating multiple types of ligands in a single scaffold, and supramolecular transformations that quantitatively alter the structure of a given SCC, furnishing an entirely new architecture.