Towards functional metallo-supramolecular assemblies and polymers

One of the main goals in today's chemistry and material science is the controlled fabrication of ordered architectures on nano- to mesoscopic length scales. Systems containing metal ions, which may potentially display new magnetic, photochemical or redox properties, are of special interest. A very promising approach comes from supramolecular chemistry utilizing the programmed self-assembly from mixtures of organic ligands and metal ions. In addition, such supramolecular building blocks can be used for the preparation of novel polymeric materials utilizing classical co-polymerizations as well as controlled/living polymerization procedures.