Recent advances in nanoarchitectures of monocrystalline coordination polymers through confined assembly

Abstract

Various kinds of monocrystalline coordination polymers are available thanks to the rapid development of related synthetic strategies. The intrinsic properties of coordination polymers have been carefully investigated on the basis of the available monocrystalline samples. Regarding the great potential of coordination polymers in various fields, it becomes important to tailor the properties of coordination polymers to meet practical requirements, which sometimes cannot be achieved through molecular/crystal engineering. Nanoarchitectonics offer unique opportunities to manipulate the properties of materials through integration of the monocrystalline building blocks with other components. Recently, nanoarchitectonics has started to play a significant role in the field of coordination polymers. In this short review, we summarize recent advances in nanoarchitectures based on monocrystalline coordination polymers that are formed through confined assembly. We first discuss the crystallization of coordination polymer single crystals inside confined liquid networks or on substrates through assembly of nodes and ligands. Then, we discuss assembly of preformed coordination polymer single crystals inside confined liquid networks or on substrates. In each part, we discuss the properties of the coordination polymer single crystals as well as their performance in energy, environmental, and biomedical applications.

Molecular nanoarchitectonics: unification of nanotechnology and molecular/materials science

“…The development of functional materials is an important key to solving various problems in human society. Functional materials have been created together with developments of well-established science such as organic chemistry [4][5][6], inorganic chemistry [7][8][9], polymer chemistry [10][11][12], supramolecular chemistry [13][14][15], coordination chemistry [16][17][18], other materials chemistry [19][20][21], and bio-related chemistry [22][23][24]. Accordingly, it has become clear that precise control of structures is necessary to improve functionality [25,26].…”