Metal-Ligand Polyhedra: Difference between revisions

Metal ions with square planar coordination, when mixed with bent bidentate ligands, can self-assemble into polyhedra of various sizes. Geometrical constraints limit the number of metal ions (vertices) to 6, 12, 24, 30, or 60 for entropically favored regular or semiregular polyhedra<ref>Coxeter, H. S. M., ''Regular Polytopes'', Dover Publications, New York, 3rd ed., 1973.</ref>. In 2010 was reported self-assembly of a "giant" polyhedron with 24 metal ions, and a hollow spherical interior 36 &Aring; in diameter<ref name="sun-fujita-2010" />. The self-assembly process demonstrates emergent behavior, and is reminiscent of the self-assembly of large biological structures, such as virus capsids. Such nano-spheres can also be functionalized to create, among other possibilities, synthetic receptors and nanoreactors<ref name="news-and-views" />. A 2022 extensive review<ref name="2022rev">McTernan, Charlie T., Jack A. Davies, and Jonathan R. Nitschke, [https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chemrev.1c00763 Beyond Platonic: How to Build Metal–Organic Polyhedra Capable of Binding Low-Symmetry, Information-Rich Molecular Cargoes],  Chem. Rev. 2022, 122, 10393−10437.</ref> cites potential applications in sensing, catalysis, and drug delivery<ref name="2015apps"></ref><ref name="2021biomed"></ref>.