Synthesis of a tetra-gold (I) metallorectangle

Abstract

Supramolecular chemistry studies the association of several discrete molecular building blocks by intermolecular non-covalent interactions to form supramolecular architectures that can find applications in the fields of catalysis, nanotechnology and molecular recognition. [1] This interdisciplinary field of research combines pure synthetic organic chemistry with other disciplines, such as polymer chemistry[2] and coordination chemistry,[3] and therefore it has been widely explored by many researchers in the recent years. By adjusting the energetic and stereochemical features of the non-covalent forces between molecules, it is possible to design supramolecular entities with specific functionalities. For instance, an organic macrocycle could be used in molecular recognition as an artificial receptor, since many parameters such as size, flexibility and shape can be carefully tuned for facilitating the selective recognition of specific substrates.