Functional Porous Organometallocavitands in Network Materials

• Applicant: Dr. Alexander Pöthig
• Subject Area: Solid State and Surface Chemistry, Material Synthesis ; Inorganic Molecular Chemistry - Synthesis and Characterisation
• Term: from 2020 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 434509373

The overall aim of this project is the implementation of tubular organometallic cavitands – so called pillarplexes – as functional building blocks into smart network materials. These molecular coordination compounds are highly modular and possess intrinsic porosity and functionality, bringing advantages over conventional building blocks. A range of different pillarplexes will be synthesized, selectively modified and implemented in higher-dimensional assemblies – which will be tested towards their material properties and responsivity, e.g. porosity, luminescence, and pH-dependent switchability. The work involves research at the interface of supramolecular coordination chemistry, mechanostereochemistry and materials engineering by the tailored design of molecular building blocks for the construction of functional materials. The proposed structures are unprecedented and the plan to exploit them highly ambitious, constituting a new branch of organometallic coordination network chemistry.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1928: Coordination Networks: Building Blocks for Functional Systems