Self-assembly

This chapter focuses on the process of self-assembly, which is the reversible association of molecules and/or ions to form larger and more complex supramolecular structures. The fact that each building block (neutral or charged) has been pre-programmed with the chemical information needed for this process to occur spontaneously is key. Therefore, synthetic effort is focused on the rational design of these building blocks, e.g. the preparation of ligands with the required donor atom geometry, since, in theory, the desired structure will be formed relatively easily as a single, stable structure in the final convergent step. The chapter begins by looking at metal cation self-assembly. It focuses on transition metal-directed self-assembly where metal–ligand coordinate (dative covalent) bond strength and kinetic lability can be tuned by ligand variation and choice of metal. The chapter then presents neutral and anion self-assembly.