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Updated: Apr 15, 2026

Construction and Systematical Symmetric Studies of a Series of Supramolecular Clusters with Binary or Ternary Ammonium Triphenylacetates
Published on: February 15, 2016
Emergent rhombus tilings from molecular interactions with M-fold rotational symmetry
Stephen Whitelam1, Isaac Tamblyn2, Juan P Garrahan3
1Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
Abstract:
We show that model molecules with particular rotational symmetries can self-assemble into network structures equivalent to rhombus tilings. This assembly happens in an emergent way, in the sense that molecules spontaneously select irregular fourfold local coordination from a larger set of possible local binding geometries. The existence of such networks can be rationalized by simple geometrical arguments, but the same arguments do not guarantee a network's spontaneous self-assembly. This class of structures must in certain regimes of parameter space be able to reconfigure into networks equivalent to triangular tilings.
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