title: Self-Assembly of Concentric Hexagons and Hierarchical Self-Assembly of Supramolecular Metal-Organic Nanoribbons at the Solid/Liquid Interface.
abstract: In an effort to exert more precise control over structural features of supramolecules, a series of giant concentric hexagons were assembled as discrete structures using tetratopic terpyridine (tpy) ligands. In preparation of tetratopic ligand, pyrylium and pyridinium salts chemistry significantly facilitated synthesis. The key compounds were obtained by condensation reactions of pyrylium salts with corresponding primary amine derivatives in good yields. These discrete metallo-supramolecular concentric hexagons were fully characterized by NMR, ESI-MS, TWIM-MS, and TEM, establishing their hexagon-in-hexagon architectures. The combination of different tetratopic ligands also assembled hybrid concentric hexagons with increasing diversity and complexity. Furthermore, these concentric hexagon supramolecules with precisely controlled shapes and sizes were utilized as building blocks to hierarchically self-assemble supramolecular metal-organic nanoribbons (SMON) at solid-liquid interfaces. Ambient STM imaging showed the formation of long 1D SMON rather than 2D assembly on the basal plane of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surface after simple dropcasting of the solution of preassembled concentric hexagons onto a freshly cleaved surface of HOPG. This wet chemical method based on self-assembly may offer simple, economical, and scalable routes to deliver complex materials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry & Materials Science, Engineering, and Commercialization Program, Texas State University , San Marcos, Texas 78666, United States.|State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University , Changchun, Jilin 130012, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Single Molecule Study Laboratory, College of Engineering and Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center, University of Georgia , Athens, Georgia 30602, United States.
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry & Materials Science, Engineering, and Commercialization Program, Texas State University , San Marcos, Texas 78666, United States.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Polymer Science, College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, The University of Akron , Akron, Ohio 44325, United States.
authors.forename: Mingjun
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Zhengzhou University , Zhengzhou 450001, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xin-Qi
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Zhengzhou University , Zhengzhou 450001, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ming-Zhan
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Zhengzhou University , Zhengzhou 450001, People's Republic of China.|College of Food and Biological Engineering, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry , Zhengzhou 450002, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Guo-Qing
authors.initials: GQ
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry & Materials Science, Engineering, and Commercialization Program, Texas State University , San Marcos, Texas 78666, United States.|College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University , Wuhan 430079, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry & Materials Science, Engineering, and Commercialization Program, Texas State University , San Marcos, Texas 78666, United States.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry & Materials Science, Engineering, and Commercialization Program, Texas State University , San Marcos, Texas 78666, United States.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cisneros
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Zhengzhou University , Zhengzhou 450001, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Mao-Ping
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Single Molecule Study Laboratory, College of Engineering and Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center, University of Georgia , Athens, Georgia 30602, United States.
authors.forename: Bingqian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry & Materials Science, Engineering, and Commercialization Program, Texas State University , San Marcos, Texas 78666, United States.
authors.forename: Xiaopeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li