Segmented Template-Directed Self-Assembly of Giant Truncated Triangular Supramolecules

The template-directed strategy has been extensively employed for the construction of supramolecular architectures. However, with the increase in the size and complexity of these structures, the synthesis difficulty of the templates escalates exponentially, thereby impeding the widespread application of this strategy. In this study, two truncated triangles T 1 and T 2 were successfully self-assembled through a novel segmented template strategy by segmenting the core triangular template into portions. Two metallo-organic ligands L(2 )and L-3 were designed and synthesized by dividing the central stable triangle into three separate parts and incorporating them into the precursor ligands, which served as templates to guide the self-assembly process with ligands L-1 and L-4 , respectively. The assembled structures were unambiguously characterized by multidimensional and multinuclear NMR (1H, COSY, NOESY), multidimensional mass spectrometry analysis (ESI-MS and TWIM-MS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Moreover, we observed the formation of fiberlike nanotubes from single-molecule triangles by hierarchical self-assembly.