Equi–size nesting of Platonic and Archimedean metal–organic polyhedra into a twin capsid

Hongmei Gan, Na Xu, Chao Qin, Chunyi Sun, Xinlong Wang () and Zhongmin Su
Additional contact information
Hongmei Gan: Northeast Normal University
Na Xu: Northeast Normal University
Chao Qin: Northeast Normal University
Chunyi Sun: Northeast Normal University
Xinlong Wang: Northeast Normal University
Zhongmin Su: Northeast Normal University

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Inspired by the structures of virus capsids, chemists have long pursued the synthesis of their artificial molecular counterparts through self–assembly. Building nanoscale hierarchical structures to simulate double-shell virus capsids is believed to be a daunting challenge in supramolecular chemistry. Here, we report a double-shell cage wherein two independent metal–organic polyhedra featuring Platonic and Archimedean solids are nested together. The inner (3.2 nm) and outer (3.3 nm) shells do not follow the traditional “small vs. large” pattern, but are basically of the same size. Furthermore, the assembly of the inner and outer shells is based on supramolecular recognition, a behavior analogous to the assembly principle found in double-shell viruses. These two unique nested characteristics provide a new model for Matryoshka–type assemblies. The inner cage can be isolated individually and proves to be a potential molecular receptor to selectively trap guest molecules.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17989-6 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-17989-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17989-6

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().