Nanoassembly of a Fractal Polymer: A Molecular "Sierpinski Hexagonal Gasket"

Mathematics and art converge in the fractal forms that also abound in nature. We used molecular self-assembly to create a synthetic, nanometer-scale, Sierpinski hexagonal gasket. This nondendritic, perfectly self-similar fractal macromolecule is composed of bis-terpyridine building blocks that are bound together by coordination to 36 Ru and 6 Fe ions to form a nearly planar array of increasingly larger hexagons around a hollow center.

[1]  V. Balzani,et al.  Ruthenium(II) and Osmium(II) Bis(terpyridine) Complexes in Covalently-Linked Multicomponent Systems: Synthesis, Electrochemical Behavior, Absorption Spectra, and Photochemical and Photophysical Properties , 1994 .

[2]  Dennis E. Koppel,et al.  Analysis of Macromolecular Polydispersity in Intensity Correlation Spectroscopy: The Method of Cumulants , 1972 .

[3]  K. Braun,et al.  Probing the conformation of physisorbed molecules at the atomic scale using STM manipulation. , 2005, Nano letters.

[4]  George R. Newkome,et al.  MICELLES. PART 1. CASCADE MOLECULES: A NEW APPROACH TO MICELLES. A (27)-ARBOROL , 1985 .

[5]  T. J. Cho,et al.  Towards ordered architectures: self-assembly and stepwise procedures to the hexameric metallomacrocycles [arylbis(terpyridinyl)6FeII6-n-RuIIn] (n=0,2,3,5). , 2004, Chemistry.

[6]  G. Newkome,et al.  Nanofabrication: reversible self-assembly of an imbedded hexameric metallomacrocycle within a macromolecular superstructure. , 2005, Angewandte Chemie.

[7]  S. R. Seidel,et al.  High-symmetry coordination cages via self-assembly. , 2002, Accounts of chemical research.

[8]  G. Newkome,et al.  Synthesis, X-ray structure, and self-assembly of functionalized bis(2,2':6',2' '-terpyridinyl)arenes. , 2004, Organic letters.

[9]  George R. Newkome,et al.  Micelles. Part 1. Cascade molecules: a new approach to micelles. A [27]-arborol , 1985 .

[10]  Cho,et al.  Self- and Directed Assembly of Hexaruthenium Macrocycles. , 1999, Angewandte Chemie.

[11]  K. Raymond,et al.  Design, Formation and Properties of Tetrahedral M4L4 and M4L6 Supramolecular Clusters1 , 2001 .

[12]  R. Peacock,et al.  Electronic absorption spectra of the iron(II) complexes of 2,2'-bipyridine, 2,2'-bipyrimidine, 1,10-phenanthroline, and 2,2':6',2''-terpyridine and their reduction products , 1992 .

[13]  Benoit B. Mandelbrot,et al.  Fractal Geometry of Nature , 1984 .

[14]  Marcia Ascher.  The Kolam tradition , 2002 .

[15]  Christopher R. So,et al.  High Lateral Resolution Imaging with Sharpened Tip of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube Scanning Probe , 2004 .