A triple-pore tessellated square array by a metal-hexagonal ligand with reinforced tetra-connectors.

Tessellation of nine polygons into a 3 × 3 array is accomplished by the self-assembly of specifically designed hexaruthenium macrocycles containing a tetrapod ligand. Differing from the hexagon-containing bipod ligand, more connections lead to a giant discrete stable higher-order assembly. The formed tessellated square array possesses three different kinds of pores and each pore contains different metal ions, including one central tetragonum (Zn4), four corner hexagons (Ru6), and four side irregular hexagons (Ru2Zn2), which provides a promising way to fabricate multichannel architectures.