Nanoassembly of a fractal polymer: a molecular "Sierpinski hexagonal gasket".
Mathematics and art converge in the fractal forms that also abound in nature. We used molecular self-assembly to create a synthetic, nanometer-scale, Sierpinski hexagonal gasket. This nondendritic, perfectly self-similar fractal macromolecule is composed of bis-terpyridine building blocks that are bound together by coordination to 36 Ru and 6 Fe ions to form a nearly planar array of increasingly larger hexagons around a hollow center.
Newkome
George R
GR
Department of Polymer Science, University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325-4717, USA. newkome@uakron.edu
Wang
Pingshan
P
Moorefield
Charles N
CN
Cho
Tae Joon
TJ
Mohapatra
Prabhu P
PP
Li
Sinan
S
Hwang
Seok-Ho
SH
Lukoyanova
Olena
O
Echegoyen
Luis
L
Palagallo
Judith A
JA
Iancu
Violeta
V
Hla
Saw-Wai
SW