A Barrel-Shaped Metal-Organic Blue-Box Analogue with Photo-/Redox-Switchable Behavior.
Gabriel BrunetElizaveta A SuturinaGuillaume P C GeorgeJeffrey S OvensPaul RichardsonChristophe BucherMuralee MurugesuPublished in: Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) (2020)
Donor-acceptor interactions are ubiquitous in the design and understanding of host-guest complexes. Despite their non-covalent nature, they can readily dictate the self-assembly of complex architectures. Here, a photo-/redox-switchable metal-organic nanocapsule is presented, which was assembled by using lanthanide ions and viologen building blocks, by relying on such donor-acceptor interactions. The potential of this unique barrel-shaped structure is highlighted for the encapsulation of suitable electron donors, akin to the well-investigated "blue-box" macrocycles. The light-triggered reduction of the viologen units has been investigated by single-crystal-to-single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments, complemented by magnetic, optical, and solid-state electrochemical characterizations. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were employed to suggest the most likely electron donor in the light-triggered reduction of the viologen-based ligand.
Keyphrases
- density functional theory
- solid state
- electron transfer
- solar cells
- molecular dynamics
- water soluble
- electron microscopy
- high resolution
- transcription factor
- energy transfer
- atomic force microscopy
- molecularly imprinted
- binding protein
- gold nanoparticles
- quantum dots
- high speed
- single molecule
- magnetic resonance imaging
- magnetic resonance
- molecular dynamics simulations
- computed tomography
- aqueous solution