Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 16, 2026

Directed Assembly of Elastin-like Proteins into defined Supramolecular Structures and Cargo Encapsulation In Vitro
Published on: April 8, 2020
Design and Assembly of a Chiral Metallosalen-Based Octahedral Coordination Cage for Supramolecular Asymmetric
Chunxia Tan1, Jingjing Jiao1, Zijian Li1
1School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, P.R. China.
Abstract:
Supramolecular containers featuring both high catalytic activity and high enantioselectivity represent a design challenge of practical importance. Herein, it is demonstrated that a chiral octahedral coordination cage can be constructed by using twelve enantiopure Mn(salen)-derived dicarboxylic acids as linear linkers and six Zn4 -p-tert-butylsulfonylcalix[4]arene clusters as tetravalent four-connected vertices. The porous cage features a large hydrophobic cavity (≈3944 Å3 ) decorated with catalytically active metallosalen species and is shown to be an efficient and recyclable asymmetric catalyst for the oxidative kinetic resolution of racemic secondary alcohols and the epoxidation of olefins with up to >99 % enantiomeric excess. The cage architecture not only prevents intermolecular deactivation and stabilizes the Mn(salen) catalysts but also encapsulates substrates and concentrates reactants in the cavity, resulting in enhanced reactivity and enantioselectivity relative to the free metallosalen catalyst.
Related Concept Videos
Catalysis
Coordination Number and Geometry
Crystal Field Theory - Octahedral Complexes
To explain the observed behavior of transition metal complexes (such as colors), a model involving electrostatic interactions between the electrons from the ligands and the electrons in the unhybridized d orbitals of the central metal atom has been developed. This electrostatic model is crystal field theory (CFT). It helps to understand, interpret, and predict the colors, magnetic behavior, and some structures of coordination compounds of transition metals.
CFT focuses on...
Chirality
Chiral objects exhibit a sense of handedness when they interact with another chiral object. For example, our left foot can only fit in the left shoe and not in the right shoe. Achiral objects — objects that have...
Lattice Centering and Coordination Number
Types of Unit Cells
Imagine taking a large number of identical...
Coordination Compounds and Nomenclature

