Phys.org April 29, 2024
Researchers in the UK have developed a two-step, hierarchical synthesis that assembled a trigonal prismatic organic cage into a more symmetric, higher-order tetrahedral cage. Both the preformed [2+3] trigonal prismatic cage building blocks and the resultant tetrahedral [4[2+3]+6]cage molecule were constructed using ether bridges. This strategy afforded the tetrahedral cage molecule excellent hydrolytic stability that was not a feature of more common dynamic cage linkers. Despite its relatively high molar mass, tetrahedral cage exhibited good solubility and crystallized into a porous superstructure. By contrast, the [2+3] building block was not porous. The tetrahedral cage molecule showed high CO2 and SF6 uptakes due to its polar skeleton. The preference for the tetrahedral cage molecule over other cage products could be predicted by computational modelling suggesting a broader design strategy for the hierarchical assembly of organic cages with synthetically engineered functions… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Synthetic route for the [4[2+3]+6]cage molecule. Credit:Â Nature Synthesis, 26 April 2024